English Original
a snapshot
of me and the girl --
between us
handsome as ever
is my only son
Eucalypt, 2, 2007
Kirsty Karkow
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
我和那個女孩
的一張快照 --
在我們之間
是我的獨生子
一如往常的帥氣
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
我和那个女孩
的一张快照 --
在我们之间
是我的独生子
一如往常的帅气
Bio Sketch
Kirsty Karkow lived in Waldoboro, Maine, where she wrote haiku, sijo, tanka, and other short forms. Lyrical, poignant, and spare, her poetry reflected a rich and deep sense of place and spirit. Her haiku have won the Mainichi and the R.H Blyth Award and placed in other contests. And she had two best-selling books in print: water poems: haiku, tanka and sijo and shorelines: haiku, haibun and tanka , published by Black Cat Press.
... A tanka written by Kirsty Karkow appeals to me for its simplicity of words, yet covert in suggestion. An innocent snap-shot at first glance, as a proud mother holds out a photo to us and points out her son.
ReplyDeleteWhen layers are peeled away questions arise. Why does the mother refer to her son’s, assumed friend, as the girl leaving her nameless?
And then the following lines :
between us
handsome as ever
is my only son
The phrase ‘handsome as ever’; does this insinuate the girl is not the perfect one?
The son centred between them as in a tug of war hints at a level of jealousy and that word ‘only’ implies to me she is not giving him up easily.
A difficult emotion to portray, presented in the visual medium of a photograph, which disguises hidden complexities . Karkow does it very well...
-- excerpted from the Bowerbird Tanka Group Meeting Report, written by M L Grace, accessed at http://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2013/11/cool-announcement-tanka-appraisal.html