English Original
H. Gene Murtha
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
毛毛細雨
一隻知更鳥的窩巢
一根根稻草掉落
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
毛毛细雨
一只知更鸟的窝巢
一根根稻草掉落
Bio Sketch
H. Gene Murtha, a naturalist and poet, sponsored and judged the first haiku contest for the inner city children of Camden, NJ., for the Virgilio Group, of which he was a lifetime member. He was widely published for his work in haikai literature from the USA to Japan.
Gene's haiku effectively builds, line by line, to unexpected yet thematically significant and visually and emotionally poignant ending that reveals the theme of disintegration/slow destruction (ironically caused by rain, arguably the most essential weather phenomenon "in order for life to exist on Earth"). And it might be interesting to do a thematic comparative reading of my haiku below:
ReplyDeletesparrow's nest
feathered with snow ...
foreclosure sign
Columbia Poetry Review, 32, 2019