Wednesday, September 18, 2019

One Man's Maple Moon: Sapphic Fragments Tanka by Larry Kimmel

English Original

white cup
lipstick stained & empty
coins
strewn on a café table --
Sapphic fragments taunt my mind

Bright Stars, 5, 2014

Larry Kimmel


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一個空的
有口紅印記的茶杯
以及硬幣
散落在咖啡桌上 --
薩福詩歌片段嘲諷我的想法

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一个空的
有口红印记的茶杯
以及硬币
散落在咖啡桌上 --
萨福诗歌片段嘲讽我的想法


Bio Sketch

Larry Kimmel lives quietly in the hills of western Massachusetts.  His most recent books  are shards and dust (cherita), outer edges (tanka) and thunder and apple blossoms (haiku).

1 comment:

  1. The untidy scene sketched in the upper verse resonates well the Sapphic impact on the speaker's state of mind implied in the lower verse.

    Note: "Sappho (/ˈsæfoʊ/; Aeolic Greek Ψάπφω Psáppho; c. 630 – c. 570 BC) was an Archaic Greek poet from the island of Lesbos.[a] Sappho is known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung while accompanied by a lyre.[2] In ancient times, Sappho was widely regarded as one of the greatest lyric poets and was given names such as the "Tenth Muse" and "The Poetess". Most of Sappho's poetry is now lost, and what is extant has survived only in fragmentary form, except for one complete poem: the "Ode to Aphrodite". As well as lyric poetry, ancient commentators claimed that Sappho wrote elegiac and iambic poetry. Three epigrams attributed to Sappho are extant, but these are actually Hellenistic imitations of Sappho's style..."

    -- excerpted from the "Sappho" Wikipedia entry

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