A Room of My Own: Migrant's Dream Haiku

Changing the World One Haiku at a Time Series


July Fourth fireworks...
a migrant's dream intercepted
by the NSA


Note: The National Security Agency (NSA) is a cryptologic intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense

One Man's Maple Moon: Winter Solstice Tanka by S.M. Abeles

English Original

the time
we made the Earth move ...
before you
and after
winter solstice

Fire Pearls 2:Short Masterpieces of Love and Passion, 2013

S.M. Abeles
  

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我們使地球移動
的時刻 ...
在你之前
和之後
的冬至

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我们使地球移动
的时刻 ...
在你之前
和之後
的冬至


Bio Sketch

S.M. Abeles lives and writes in Washington, D.C.  He composes poems on dog walks and train rides, and elsewhere when the moment strikes.  His work appears frequently in the usual haiku and tanka journals, and he posts at least one new poem daily on his website, The Empty Sky

Butterfly Dream: Wrinkled Tangerine Haiku by Pat Tompkins

English Original

winter morning
one wrinkled tangerine
on the window sill

Seasons of Haiku

Pat Tompkins


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

冬天早晨
一個皺巴巴的橘子
在窗台上

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

冬天早晨
一个皱巴巴的橘子
在窗台上


Bio Sketch

Pat Tompkins is an editor in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her  haiku have appeared in various publications, including The Heron's Nest, A  Hundred Gourds, and Mayfly.

One Man's Maple Moon: Steaming Breasts Tanka by Ei Akitsu

English Original

After my bath
I dry
my steaming breasts
as if wiping
my soul.

a long rainy season: haiku & tanka

Ei Akitsu
trans. by Leza Lowitz


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

洗澡後
我擦乾
熱氣騰騰的乳房
彷彿擦拭
我的靈魂。

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

洗澡後
我擦乾
热气腾腾的乳房
彷彿擦拭
我的灵魂。


Bio Sketch

Ei Akitsu was born in Kukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1950. She has published many books of tanka, including To Lily Magnolia, Opium, and Faint White Light, all to critical acclaim. For more information about her work, see a long rainy season, pp. 77 - 98.

Butterfly Dream: Jasmine Tea Haiku by Ken Sawitri

English Original

jasmine tea --
our argument
diluted

Ken Sawitri


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

茉莉花茶 --
我們的爭論
變淡了

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

茉莉花茶 --
我们的争论
变淡了


Bio Sketch

Ken Sawitri was born in Blora, Central Java, Indonesia, and completed her degree in psychology at the University of Indonesia. She started writing and had the 1st publication in Indonesian national mass media when she was in junior high school. She was the  Psychology & Education editor of Ayahbunda (1995-1998).  A beginner in writing haiku, she had some haiku published in A Handful of Stones, and Asahi Haikuist Network.

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, I

a new immigrant
in the land of Snow White
I practice
A,B,C... by talking
to the bathroom mirror

Atlas Poetica, 15, July 2013


Note: You can read the whole sequence here

Cool Announcement: A Freebie at Scribd.com

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing

First English Language Tanka Sequence about Diasporic Experiences

Published by A Room of My Own Press, ON, Canada

                                                                          July first fireworks...

                                                                          is there one among those stars

                                                                          that guides my life

                                                                          through this unknown

                                                                          land of the maple leaf

                                                                          Red Lights, 9:2, June 2013

My Dear Poets/Readers:

Today marked the 11th anniversary of the settling of my life in Canada. I would like to share with you my diasporic experiences in the form of a tanka sequence.

Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing, a sequence of 40 tanka, was first published in Atlas Poetica, #15, July 2013. Many thanks to M. Kei for his continued support of my writing.

 

Based on the principles of progression and association employed in Japanese court poetry (for more information, see "To the Lighthouse: Principles of Progression and Association in Tanka Sequences," Politics/Poetics of Re-Homing is the first English language tanka sequence about diasporic experiences. In the sequence, I adopt an intersectional approach to exploring a wide range of issues related to  immigration, English learning,  racialized identity, racism, job seeking, colonization, acculturation, ...etc.

The following is the preface:

Following the Moon to the Maple Land

Welcome to Canada.

Name: Chen-ou Liu (phonic);

Country of Birth: R.O.C.;

(Cross out R.O.C. and fill in Taiwan)

Place of Birth; Date of Birth; Sex;

simply more technocratic questions

the Immigration Officer needs to pin down my borders.

He is always looking for shortcuts,

more interested in the roadside signposts

than in the landscapes that have made me.

The line he wants me confined to

is an analytically recognizable category:

landed immigrant. My history is meticulously stamped.

Now, you're legally a landed immigrant.

Take a copy of A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada

I hope you will enjoy this e-chapbook as much as I did.

Many thanks for your continued support of my writing.

Chen-ou

Note: A Newcomer’s Introduction to Canada was written and issued by Citizenship and Immigration Canada to give new immigrants helpful information for planning ahead, but it is not a detailed guide. For more information, they will be given another book called Welcome to Canada: What You Should Know. It contains specific information on all the practical aspects of living in Canada.

One Man's Maple Moon: Border Crossing Tanka by Christina Nguyen

English Original

Canadian geese
hiss at each passerby
somewhere
guns are fired
at a border crossing

Atlas Poetica Special Feature: Snipe Rising from a Marsh

Christina Nguyen


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

加拿大鵝
對路人嘶嘶叫
在邊界過境
的某個地方
槍聲響起

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

加拿大鹅
对路人嘶嘶叫
在边界过境
的某个地方
枪声响起


Bio Sketch

Christina Nguyen is a poet and writer living in Minnesota, USA. Find her on Twitter as @TinaNguyen and blogging Japanese short form poetry at A wish for the sky…. Her work has appeared in various anthologies and journals including Modern Haiku, Ribbons, GUSTS, red lights, American Tanka, Frogpond, Prune Juice, Moonbathing, and tinywords. In 2013, some of her poetry will appear in A New Resonance 8: Emerging Voices in English-Language Haiku from Red Moon Press.

Poetic Musings: Raindrops Haiku by Neal Whitman

hanging rain drops

in the maple grove

still autumn

Patricia Machmiller ‘s Comment:

This haiku's beautiful image of stillness embodied in the hanging raindrops is deepened by a second reading of the way the word, "still," works in the poem. In this second reading, it is as if the drops hanging on the branches, as long as they hold on, it will still be autumn. It is as though their very act of clinging is enough to stave off the inevitable -- the coming of winter.

-- excerpted from Blyth's Spirit by Neal Whitman (p. 28)

Neal's haiku is a typical example of one word that can make or break a poem. I principally agree with Patricia’s comment, especially with the conclusion. Neal’s audacious use of “still” and his good choice of  a seasonal reference add emotional weight and psychological depth to this little poem.

One Man’s Maple Moon: Centrepiece Tanka by Kirsten Cliff

English Original

he creates
a new centrepiece
for the dining table
a size nine shoebox
full of medications

Presence, 44,  June 2011

Kirsten Cliff


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

他為餐桌中央
設計一個新的
裝飾品
九號大的鞋盒
裝滿藥物

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

他为餐桌中央
设计一个新的
装饰品
九号大的鞋盒
装满药物


Bio Sketch

Kirsten Cliff is a New Zealand writer and poet whose work has been published in journals worldwide, and will soon appear in A New Resonance 8. She is currently working on her first collection, Patient Property, which explores her recent journey through leukaemia. Kirsten is editor of the haikai section of the New Zealand Poetry Society magazine, a fine line, and she blogs at Swimming in Lines of Haiku.

Butterfly Dream: Independence Day Haiku by Fay Aoyagi

English Original

Independence Day --
I let him touch
a little bit of me

Beyond the Reach of My Chopsticks , 2011

Fay Aoyagi


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

獨立紀念日 --
我讓他碰觸我
一點點

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

独立纪念日 --
我让他碰触我
一点点


Bio Sketch

Fay Aoyagi （青柳飛）was born in Tokyo and immigrated to the U.S. in 1982. She is currently a member of Haiku Society of America and Haiku Poets of Northern California. She serves as an associate editor of The Heron's Nest.  She also writes in Japanese and belongs to two Japanese haiku groups; Ten'I (天為) and "Aki"（秋), and  she is a member of Haijin Kyokai (俳人協会).

A Room of My Own: The Nature of Poetic Truth

oh, so, you're a poet
the aftertaste
of her words

where is your Howl?
this odor
of impending death

drifting snowflakes...
your poem, a bit of this
and a bit of that

One Man's Maple Moon: Relationship Tanka by Amelia Fielden

English Original

halving fruit
my second husband's
way of love --
hard to change habits
so late in life

2nd Place, 2000 Tanka Society of America International Tanka Contest

Amelia Fielden


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

將水果分一半
是我第二任丈夫
表達愛的方式 --
在生命的晚年
很難改變習慣

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

将水果分一半
是我第二任丈夫
表达爱的方式 --
在生命的晚年
很难改变习惯


Bio Sketch

Amelia Fielden is an Australian. She is a professional translator of Japanese Literature, and an enthusiastic writer of tanka in English.Amelia has had published 18 books of translations,and 7 of her own work, as well as 2 collections of responsive tanka with fellow Australian, Kathy Kituai,and 2 bilingual  collections with Saeko Ogi. In 2007 Amelia & co-translator Kozue Uzawa were awarded the Donald Keene Prize For Translation of Japanese Literature,by Columbia University, New York, for the anthology Ferris Wheel : 101 Modern & Contemporary Japanese Tanka.

Butterfly Dream: Gendai Horizon Haiku by kjmunro

English Original

when my gendai world was flat I kept falling off
                                              
                                                                                          the text horizon

Notes from the Gean,  19,  May 2013

kjmunro


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我的現代俳句世界是扁平時，我不斷地從文本地平線
                                                                                                        摔落下來
                                              
Chinese Translation (Simplified)                                                                            

我的现代俳句世界是扁平时，我不断地从文本地平线

                                                                                                        摔落下来                            


Bio Sketch

Born & raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, kjmunro moved to the Yukon Territory in 1991. She is a member of Haiku Canada, and volunteers with The Whitehorse Poetry Society. She is currently working on a poetry manuscript.

Hot News: Happy Canada Day and Haiku/Tanka Reprinted in 37 E-Papers

My Dear Canadian Poets/Readers:

her shoulders quiver

with a tremor of pleasure

smell of July First

Happy Canada Day!!

My Dear Readers/Poets:

NeverEnding Story's haiku/tanka now are regularly reprinted in 37 e-papers, of which four are Japanese. The newest members are The #haiku Daily edited by Paper.li community, The Haiku Now edited by 黒谷くろやぎ, Gogyohka Daily edited by Gog, and Red Dolbster Tribune edited by Leanne.

For more information, see Hot News: Haiku/Tanka Reprinted in 30 E-Papers and its comment section.

(By the way, NeverEnding Story seeks haiku/ tanka submissions (especially well-crafted tanka). Please help spread the word)

Many thanks to all of you that have helped NeverEnding Story grow in any way.

Chen-ou


Updated July 2:

The newest member is  Poetry Paper edited by Margaret Fieland