Saturday, May 3, 2014

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

English Original

every night
exploding stars
on the river
I play god
with my stones

Skylark, 1:2, Winter 2013

S.M. Abeles


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

每天晚上
爆增的恆星
在河上
我用石頭
扮演神的角色

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

每天晚上
爆增的恒星
在河上
我用石头
扮演神的角色


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

2 comments:

  1. Technically speaking, this is a good example of what American poet, Archibald MacLeish, calls a "coupling of images:"

    "One image is established by words which make it sensuous and vivid to the
    the eyes or ears or touch-to any of the senses. Another image is put beside it.
    And a meaning appears which is neither the meaning of one image nor the
    meaning of the other nor even the sum of both but a consequence of both-a
    consequence of both in their conjunction, in their relation to each other."

    It is in the "space between'" that the poem grows.

    I'll further explore this technique in my next "To the Lighthouse" post.

    And thematically speaking, the "myth-making" aspect of the poem might speak more about the speaker's state of mind/mood.


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  2. This is a spectacular piece of imagery...a painting of words in a starry night.

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