English Original
a small girl ...
the shadows stroke
and stroke her
Maya, 1975
Michael McClintock
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一個小女孩 ...
一幫陰影撫摸
撫摸著她
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一个小女孩 ...
一帮阴影抚摸
抚摸着她
Bio Sketch
Michael McClintock's lifework in haiku, tanka, and related literature spanned over four decades. His many contributions to the field included six years as president of the Tanka Society of America (2004-2010) and contributing editor, essayist, and poet for dozens of journals, anthologies, landmark collections and critical studies. McClintock lived in Clovis, California, where he worked as an independent scholar, consultant for public libraries, and poet. Meals at Midnight [tanka], Sketches from the San Joaquin [haiku] and Streetlights: Poetry of Urban Life in Modern English Tanka, were some of his recent titles.
This is one of the most disturbing haiku, a haiku noir, I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteIt explores a dark theme of "sexual abuse" by a group of people (as implied from the shadowS repeatedly strok[ing] a small girl).
What's left unsaid/what will come next is far more poignantly potent than what's stated in the haiku.
And the use of visually and symolically rich "shadows" (not explicitly men or people) adds emotional weight and psychological depth to the haiku.
FYI: For more about haiku noir, see "To the Lighthouse: Haiku Noir," accessed at https://neverendingstoryhaikutanka.blogspot.com/2014/07/to-lighthouse-haiku-noir.html