Wednesday, December 28, 2016

One Man's Maple Moon: House Spider Tanka by an'ya

English Original

alone tonight
dusting old cobwebs
from our bookshelf
even the house spider
has abandoned me

Moonstruck:  A Tanka Collection, 2005

an'ya


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

今晚獨自一人
將我們書架中
的老蜘蛛網掃除
甚至房內的蜘蛛
都已經離棄我

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

今晚独自一人
将我们书架中
的老蜘蛛网扫除
甚至房内的蜘蛛
都已经离弃我 


Bio Sketch

an'ya is a haiku and tanka poet who has been published in over 60 foreign languages, and appeared in places and publications worldwide. If you would like to read more of her works and a complete biography, please visit http://tankaanya.com/

1 comment:

  1. In his "Foreword of Moonstruck," Sanford Goldstein once emphasized, "...I have often found in today's tanka poets, many of whom also write haiku, a forcing of nature imagery on the poem, for the image itself reminds the poet of some dilemma. That is, the nature image calls up 'situation...'"

    I couldn't agree with him more. However, in the hands of a skillful poet, such as an’ya, the nature connection is an internal part of the actual situation, as in her tanka above where there is an implied simile effectively established between the absent lover/spouse and the house spider. And an’ya's use of "even" successfully adds emotional weight to her heartfelt tanka.

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