sweet peas
planted long ago --
lost in weeds
sudden myriad flowers
like new love
Gusts, 20, Fall/Winter 2014
Jenny Barnard
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
很久以前
種植的甜豌豆 --
消失在雜草中
突如其來的無數鮮花
像是新生的愛情
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
很久以前
种植的甜豌豆 --
消失在杂草中
突如其来的无数鲜花
像是新生的爱情
Bio Sketch
Jenny
Barnard has been travelling the writing circuit for about 30 years. Her
background began in Watersmeet haiku, Famous Reporter (Walleah press),
Moonset & Republican Readings (haiku, tanka and extended poetry
forms). She continues to explore tanka "freshness" and paradox. Her
tanka have appeared in Canadian and Australian journals, anthologies,
broadsheets, performances, and workshops. Her ideal is to master and
teach tanka. She is married with one daughter, and lives in Berriedale, a
suburb of Hobart, Tasmania.
The visual and thematic shift in the lower verse makes this poem emotionally effective. These pea-like flowers grow in many lovely colors and enchant us with with their fragile, seductive fragrance ("like new love"). Jenny's heartfelt tanka reminds me of the work by John Keats:
ReplyDelete"Here are sweet peas,on tip-toe for a flight
With wings of gentle flusho'er delicate white,
And taper fingers catching at all things
To bind them all about with tiny rings."