English Original
casualty lists
smaller and smaller
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plum afternoon, 2017
Kristen Deming
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
傷亡名單
名字越印
越小
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
伤亡名单
名字越印
越小
Bio Sketch
Kristen Deming was an accomplished haiku poet and lover of literature. Her haiku collection, Plum Afternoon was a finalist in the Haiku Society of America's Merit Book Award in 2017. As a past president of the Haiku Society of America and active member in the haiku community in Japan for many years, one of Kristen's enduring contributions to the haiku communities around the world was a weekly poetry column in the Japan Times called "Haiku Moments" that she co-wrote with a Japanese colleague for six years, helping to open the world of haiku to English speakers and to give glimpses of Japanese culture through the lens of haiku.
L1 sets the theme and mood while the use of repetition in Ls 2&3 effectively and poignantly shows the devastating consequence of a war or disaster.
ReplyDeleteWhat's left unsaid is far more important than what's stated in this heart-wrenching haiku.
Dying Men Tanka by Saigyo Hoshi
DeleteIn the world of men it came to be a time of warfare. Throughout the country -- west, east, north, and south -- there was no place where the war was not being fought. The count of those dying because of it climbed continually and reached an enormous number. It was beyond belief! And for what on earth was this struggle taking place? A most tragic state of affairs
There's no gap or break
In the rank of those marching
Under the hill:
An endless line of dying men,
Moving on and on and on ...