English Original
pumice stone
in the morning shower
to scour
the feel of him, the smell of him
into the sewer
Bamboo Hut, 1, 2013
Sonam Chhoki
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一塊浮石
在早上淋浴時
用來洗刷掉在我身上
他的感覺, 他的氣味
並沖進下水道裡
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一块浮石
在早上淋浴时
用来洗刷掉在我身上
他的感觉, 他的气味
并冲进下水道里
Bio Sketch
Sonam Chhoki finds the Japanese short form poetry resonates with her Tibetan Buddhist upbringing. She is inspired by her father, Sonam Gyamtsho, the architect of Bhutan's non-monastic modern education and by her mother, Chhoden Jangmu, who taught her: “Being a girl doesn’t mean you can’t do anything.” She is the principal editor, and co-editor of haibun for the United Haiku and Tanka Society journal, cattails.
A pumice stone can be used to remove the dead skin, from one's feet, but usually not from one's face or body because it's "far too abrasive."
ReplyDeleteThe speaker's use of this abrasive stone (L1) to scour "the feel of him/her loved one, the smell of him/her loved one" (Ls 3-4) "into the sewer" (L5) shows her strong will to cut him off from her life.
The use of syntactic parallelism in L4, the longest line, adds emotional weight and psychological depth to this heartwrenching tanka.