The phone lines
that should carry your voice
sag with ice…
this unfinished scarf,
I never could get the tension right
Ribbons, 9:3, Fall 2013
Carol Purington
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
應承載你聲音
的電話線
被冰壓得下垂...
這個尚完成的圍巾，
毛線之間從未有適當的張力
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
应承载你声音
的电话线
被冰压得下垂...
这个尚完成的围巾，
毛线之间从未有适当的张力
Bio Sketch
Carol
Purington belongs to a farm family whose routines are shaped by
seasonal context, and her tanka, both their natural imagery and their
emotional shadings, emerge from this lifelong grounding. Faces I Might Wear is her newest collection.
There is a simile subtly established between the two parts of the poem (phone lines sag with ice and the unfinished scarf without right thread tensions), and on a second reading, 'phone lines,' 'ice,' 'unfinished scarf,' and 'tension' carry symbolic significance. This tanka could be read as a poem about relationship.
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