English Original
as the surgical knife
slowly slits open
the past
my fetuses appear
kicking each other in the dark
Breasts of Snow, 2004
Fumiko Nakajo
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
當手術刀
慢慢地切開
我的過去
一對胎兒浮現了
並在黑暗中相互踢打
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
当手术刀
慢慢地切开
我的过去
一对胎儿浮现了
并在黑暗中相互踢打
Bio Sketch
Fumiko Nakajo (中城ふみ子, 1922-54) was a strong-willed woman who lived a tragic life. She died from breast cancer at the age of 32, just few months after her first collection of 50 tanka, titled Chibusa Soshitsu (The Loss of Breasts), won the first prize in a nationwide contest sponsored by a major magazine. She is, though almost unknown outside of Japan, considered to be the third in the three most famous Japanese female poets in the last century, right up there with Akiko Yosano and Machi Tawara.
Written in figurative language, Fumiko's tanka effectively builds, line by line, to an unexpected yet visually and emotionally poignant ending that reveals the theme of multiple losses (because of the poet's illness/breast cancer when evaluated in the the context of biographical writing). And its "objective tone" adds emotional weight and psychological depth to the tanka.
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