Thursday, January 30, 2014

One Man's Maple Moon: New Child Tanka by Amelia Fielden

English Original

my ex-husband
calls his new child the name
we had chosen
for our son,whose heart
stopped in my womb

Eucalypt, 14, 2013
                                        
Amelia Fielden


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我的前夫
給他新生兒的名字
原是我們選擇
給我們的兒子,他的心跳
在我的子宮內停止

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我的前夫
给他新生儿的名字
原是我们选择
给我们的儿子,他的心跳
在我的子宫内停止


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.

1 comment:

  1. In such a short narrative space, Amelia skillfully portrays two kinds of loss: a marriage and a child. The second loss might implicate the first one.

    A heartfelt, well-crafted 'middle-of-the-story' tanka.

    ReplyDelete