an orchid
beneath the vines
fails to flower --
my child snared
by mind-demons
Moonbathing, 12, Spring/Summer 2015
Marilyn Humbert
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在葡萄藤下
的一朵蘭花
沒有開花 --
我的孩子身陷
心靈惡魔的捆綁
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在葡萄藤下
的一朵兰花
没有开花 --
我的孩子身陷
心灵恶魔的捆绑
Bio Sketch
Marilyn
Humbert lives in the Northern Suburbs of Sydney NSW surrounded by bush.
Her pastimes include writing free verse poetry, tanka, tanka prose and
related genre. She is the leader of Bottlebrush Tanka Group and member
of the Huddle and Bowerbird Tanka Groups. Her tanka appears in
Australian and international journals.
There is an implied simile successfully established between the two parts of the poem, and Marilyn's effective use of the symbolically rich and psychologically significant phrase, "mind-demons" (voices in one's mind), lifts the poem up a notch. This phrase reminds me of one of my favorite books on mental illness, The Noonday Demon, written by Andrew Solomon.
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