Thursday, January 2, 2020

One Man's Maple Moon: Last Year's Campfire Tanka by Larry Kimmel

English Original

poking at the ash
of last year's campfire ...
    all I do
    all I am
-- memoir

Atlas Poetica, 24, Spring 2016

Larry Kimmel


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

撥開
去年的營火灰燼 ...
    我所做的一切
    我就是
-- 一本回憶錄

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

拨开
去年的营火灰烬 ...
    我所做的一切
    我就是
-- 一本回忆录 


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. An implied simile is effectively established between the ash
    of last year's campfire (Ls 1&2) and the speaker's memoir (l5), and Ls 3&4 add emotional weight and psychological depth to the tanka.

    This relationship/simile between fire and writing reminds me of the following remark:

    The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.

    -- Ferdinand Foch

    [The most powerful literary work is written by the writer whose soul is on fire.

    Chen-ou Liu]

    ReplyDelete