Saturday, June 10, 2023

One Man's Maple Moon: Twisting Path Tanka by Joanne Morcom

English Original

twisting path
seems to lead nowhere
except deeper
into dark woods
where no birds sing

Gusts, 32, Fall/Winter 2020

Joanne Morcom


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

曲折的路徑
似乎通向無路可走之處
除了更深入
沒有鳥兒歌唱
的黑暗樹林

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

曲折的路径
似乎通向无路可走之处
除了更深入
没有鸟儿歌唱
的黑暗树林


Bio Sketch

Joanne Morcom is a poet and social worker who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  She has published four poetry  collections and her work appears in online and print journals and anthologies. 

1 comment:

  1. Joanne's tanka, infused with multi-sensorily evocative and symbolically rich images, works well on two levels, literal and figurative.

    On a figurative level, her tanka functions like an analogy for mid-life crisis, and it reminds me of the following lines:


    Midway upon the journey of our life
    I found myself within a forest dark,
    For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

    Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say
    What was this forest savage,rough,and stern,
    Which in the very thought renews the fear.

    Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto I

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