my son heaps
bowl on bowl
with rice,
head down
he devours the world
This Short Life: Minimalist Tanka, 2014
Sanford Goldstein
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
我的兒子
堆放一碗米飯
在另一碗上
然後低下頭
他吞噬了整個世界
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
我的儿子
堆放一碗米饭
在另一碗上
然后低下头
他吞噬了整个世界
Bio Sketch
Sanford
Goldstein has been publishing tanka for more than fifty years. He was
born in 1925 and is now 95 years old. Long ago, he wrote haiku, but
decided to focus on tanka. His latest books, three in the last two
years, have each said this would be his last.
Within such a short space of 14 words and 15 syllables, Sanford's "portrait tanka," effectively builds, poetic phrase/line by poetic phrase/line, to a visually and emotionally powerful ending: the speaker's son devours the world of his hunger (bowls of rice) and his silent anger.
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