sleepless night
I turn my nightgown
inside out
to join the scarred moon
in my dream of passion
A Thousand Fireflies, 2012
Luminita Suse
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
不眠之夜
我把睡衣
反穿
在我的激情夢中
陪伴傷痕累累的月亮
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
不眠之夜
我把睡衣
反穿
在我的激情梦中
陪伴伤痕累累的月亮
Bio Sketch
Luminita Suse is the author of the tanka collection, A Thousand Fireflies, 2011, Editions des petits nuages. Her poetry appeared in Moonbathing: A Journal of Women's Tanka, Gusts, Atlas Poetica, Red Lights, Ribbons, A Hundred Gourds, Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka 2010-2011, and Skylark. She got a honourable mention in the The 7th International Tanka Festival Competition, 2012.
Luminita skillfully explores the female passion from two different perspectives (in/outwards looking)through the symbolically rich and allusive image, "nightgown/inside out" (an iconic image first employed in one of the most sensual tanka written by a Medieval Japanese poet) and the poignantly crafted phrase, "the scarred moon/in my dream of passion," not only resonates well with the emotional point of the poem, but also effectively adds psychological depth to the poem.
ReplyDeleteNote: Ls 2&3 allude to the following tanka:
longing,
fiercely longing --
to dream of him
I turn my bedclothes inside out
this dark-husked night
Ono no Komachi
trans. by Jane Hirshfield