Friday, October 3, 2014

One Man's Maple Moon: Geese Tanka by Susan Constable

English Original

leaning on a rake
he watches geese fly south --
in my dream
he flaps his wings, takes off
for places we’ve never been

American Tanka, 19, 2011

Susan Constable


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

靠著耙
他觀看大雁南飛 --
在我的夢中
他扇動翅膀,飛向
我們從來沒有去過的地方

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

靠著耙
他观看大雁南飞 --
在我的梦中
他扇动翅膀,飞向
我们从来没有去过的地方


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.

1 comment:

  1. The contrasts -- cyclic migration vs one-time action; group vs individual; known destination vs imaginative place, ..etc. -- between the two parts of the poem spark the reader's reflection on the relationship between the speaker and him.

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