Tuesday, June 23, 2015

One Man's Maple Moon: Cloudy Rice Tanka by Margaret Chula

English Original

my friends tell me
that they are breaking up
I stand at the sink
-- rinse the cloudy rice over
and over again

Always Filling, Always Full, 2001

Margaret Chula


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我朋友告訴我
他們正在分手的階段
我站在水槽邊
-- 沖洗混濁的米一遍
且又一遍

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我朋友告诉我
他们正在分手的阶段
我站在水槽边
-- 冲洗混浊的米一遍
且又一遍


Bio Sketch

Margaret Chula has published two collections of tanka: Always Filling, Always Full and Just This. She has promoted tanka through her one-woman dramatization, “Three Women Who Loved Love”, which traveled to Krakow, New York, Boston, Portland, Ottawa, and Ogaki, Japan. Maggie currently serves as president of the Tanka Society of America.

1 comment:

  1. Generally speaking, I think a poet should follow Voltaire's advice below:

    Adjectives are frequently the greatest enemy of the substantive.

    However, in the case of Margaret's well-crafted tanka, the adjective, "cloudy," is emotionally effectively used; thus it helps carry metaphoric significance and add one more layer of meaning to the poem.

    And her use of repetition successfully adds emotional weight to the poem.

    ReplyDelete