the wind
tugs at my umbrella
time and again
I must choose between
holding on and letting go
Ribbons, 7:1, Spring 2011
Susan Constable
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
大風
扯著我的傘
一次又一次
我必須選擇
緊握和放手
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
大风
扯著我的伞
一次又一次
我必须选择
紧握和放手
Bio Sketch
Susan Constable’s tanka appear in numerous journals and anthologies, including Take Five. Her tanka collection, The Eternity of Waves,
was one of the winning entries in the eChapbook Awards for 2012. She is
currently the tanka editor for the international on-line journal, A Hundred Gourds.
This tanka is written in the traditional manner of Japanese waka tradition: it is made up of five poetic phrases structured into two parts (“jo” [prefatory image] and “main statement”) with L3 as pivot.
ReplyDeleteThe first part of the tanka describes a natural scene while the second one is a narrative personal commentary. Enhanced by Susan's effective use of a pivot, L3, the juxtapositional structure makes this tanka emotionally effective with a philosophical bent: today’s food for thought