English Original
half a tanka
will probably suffice
to say
this blur on life's page
is ready for erasure
Poetry That Heals, 2018
Sanford Goldstein
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
半首短歌
可能就已足夠
訴說了
生命這一頁上的模糊之處
已準備好被擦除乾淨
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
半首短歌
可能就已足够
诉说了
生命这一页上的模糊之处
已准备好被擦除干净
Bio Sketch
Long ago, Sanford Goldstein wrote haiku, but decided to focus on tanka. His latest books, three in two years, have each said this would be his last. The Tanka Society of America renamed its international tanka contest for him in 2015; and he has been called the grandfather of tanka in English.
Unexpected yet visually and emotionally poignant statement in Ls 4-5 makes the understatement of Ls 1-3 relfectively challenging.
ReplyDeleteThe thematic focus of Sanford's tanka reminds me of the following writing remark:
Writing something
To leave behind
Is yet another kind of dream:
When I awake I know that
There will be no one to read it.
-- "Mad Monk" and poet Ikkyu
And it might be interesting to do a themaric comparative reading of the following tanka:
waking half way
through the day
half the sunshine
half the pain
-- still time for a poem
Little Purple Universes, 2011
Helen Buckingham