English Original
Chuck Brickley
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
地球反射的陽光
她的聲音化為
成為耳語
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
地球反射的阳光
她的声音化为
成为耳语
Bio Sketch
A native San Franciscan, Chuck Brickley lived in rural British Columbia for 35 years. His book of haiku, earthshine, won the THF Touchstone Award for Distinguished Books 2017; the HSA Merit Book Award 2017, Honorable Mention; and the inaugural Marianne Bluger Book Award 2020, Honourable Mention. His haibun,“Is Where The Car Is," was nominated for a Pushcart Prize 2018, and another haibun, "A Banishing," received a Sonders Best Small Fiction Award nomination, 2019
The multi-sensorily effective jux. makes this astronomical phenomenon/earthshine haiku a fine example of the writing principle of "to show not to tell."
ReplyDeleteWhat's left unsaid (about why her voice breaking into a whisper) is left to the reader's imagination and reflection.
And it might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of my haiku below:
earthshine dimming the light in my love's eyes
NeverEnding Story, August 21 2022
Earthshine is one of the most spectacular sights in our night sky. Yet, this astronomical phenomenon is slowly vanishing, and this is providing us with a new warning sign for the climate...Earthshine results from Earth's albedo. Of all the incoming sunlight that reaches Earth, roughly one-third gets directly reflected back into space by bright cloud tops and icy surfaces.
-- excerpted from "The Weather Network," Oct. 6, 2021: Earthshine' is dimming and that's bad news for the climate," accessed at
https://www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/climate/impacts/earthshine-is-dimming-and-climate-change-may-be-to-blame
Thank you so much, Chen-ou. This poem was first published in Modern Haiku in 1983, where it won the Eminent Mention Award. I am delighted and honoured by your translation.
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