on the beach,
loneliness stretches out
at night,
multiplies with
the countless grains of sand
GUSTS, 13, Spring/Summer 2011
Joyce Wong
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在沙灘上,
寂寞向海岸延伸
到了晚上，
像無數沙粒
一樣地擴增
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在沙滩上,
寂寞向海岸延伸
到了晚上，
像无数沙粒
一样地扩增
Bio Sketch
Joyce
Wong is a quiet artistic soul who loves reading, writing, music, and
poetry. She began writing tanka in 2010, inspired by Machi Tawara’s Salad Anniversary. Her tanka have been published in GUSTS, Moonbathing, and Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, Volume 4.
One of her tanka was honored with a Certificate of Merit from the Japan
Tanka Poets' Society in the 7th International Tanka Festival
Competition, 2012. She lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Joyce personifies loneliness and extends it throughout the entire poem. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first tanka in which extended personification is employed.
ReplyDeleteAnd combined with the seashore setting, her choice of verbs is thematically and emotionally effective, adding aesthetic depth to the poem.