Tuesday, December 27, 2022

One Man's Maple Moon: My Heart Tanka by M. Kei

English Original

tossing my heart
into the recycling bin,
I hope that 
somebody else
can put it to good use

Heron Sea, Short Poems of the Chesapeake Bay, 2007

M. Kei


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

將我的心
丢入回收箱, 
我希望
其他的人
能夠善用它

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

将我的心
丢入回收箱, 
我希望
其他的人
能够善用它


Bio Sketch

M. Kei is a tall ship sailor and award-winning poet who lives on Maryland’s Eastern shore. He is the editor of Atlas Poetica: A Journal of World Tanka. His most recent collection of poetry is January, A Tanka Diary. He is also the author of the award-winning gay Age of Sail adventure novels, Pirates of the Narrow Seas. He can be followed on Twitter @kujakupoet, or visit AtlasPoetica.org.

1 comment:

  1. Unexpected yet lighthearted twist in Ls 4&5 reveals something fresh and interesting about the speaker's character, based on the way he deals with this heart-wrenching issue: a breakup/broken heart.

    And it might be interesting to do a thematic comparative reading of my tanka below:

    after the fight
    I drag the green bin out
    to the curb
    is my relationship with her
    biodegradable?

    Failed Haiku, 7:75, March 2022

    For more about character tanka, see "To the Lighthouse: Character/Persona Tanka," accessed at http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2022/09/to-lighthouse-characterpersona-tanka.html

    ReplyDelete