Tuesday, December 31, 2019

One Man's Maple Moon: Last Day of the Year Tanka by Sonam Chhoki

English Original

last day of the year
poems I could have written ...
a bulbul follows
drifting leaves
to the stone cairn

Skylark, 1, 2013

Sonam Chhoki


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一年的最後一天
我本來可以寫詩 ...
一隻夜鶯尾隨
漂流的葉子
來到紀念石碑之處

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一年的最后一天
我本来可以写诗 ...
一只夜莺尾随
漂流的叶子
来到纪念石碑之处


Bio Sketch

Sonam Chhoki finds the Japanese short form poetry resonates with her Tibetan Buddhist upbringing.  She is inspired by her father, Sonam Gyamtsho, the architect of Bhutan's non-monastic modern education and by her mother, Chhoden Jangmu, who taught her: “Being a girl doesn’t mean you can’t do anything.” She is the principal editor, and co-editor of haibun for the United Haiku and Tanka Society journal, cattails.

1 comment:

  1. The upper verse sets the theme and mood while the shift in the lower verse is infused with symbolic significance, creating an interpretative space that invites the reader to participate in the process of constructing meaning.

    Sonam's thought-provoking tanka reminds me of one of my tanka about new year's eve and writing:

    on New Year’s Eve
    my half-finished poem drafts
    pile up --
    I hone my skill and fold them
    into origami cranes

    Eucalypt Challenge, #9

    ReplyDelete