for your eyes only,
she says with a shy nod --
I think about this
then raise a hand to caress
her remaining breast
Selected Tanka, Gusts, 26, Fall/Winter 2017
Michael Dylan Welch
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
她害羞地點頭說，
只是給你的眼睛看 --
我想了一下
然後舉起手來撫摸
她所剩下的乳房
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
她害羞地点头说，
只是给你的眼睛看 --
我想了一下
然后举起手来抚摸
她所剩下的乳房
Bio Sketch
Michael
Dylan Welch is vice president of the Haiku Society of America, founder
of the Tanka Society of America (2000), and cofounder of Haiku North
America conference (1991) and the American Haiku Archives (1996). In
2010 he also started National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo), which
takes place every February, with an active Facebook page. His personal
website is www.graceguts.com, which features hundreds of essays,
reviews, reports, and other content, including examples of his published
poetry.
Michael's tanka builds, line by line, to an unexpected yet visually and emotionally powerful last line that has the most weight, effectively conveying a sense of "tenderness" (which is found "in the tendency to make one's own the feelings and mental states of another person")
ReplyDeleteBelow are my related haiku/tanka on breast cancer:
ReplyDeletesudden news
of her breast cancer...
I add
one more lump of sugar
to my morning coffee
German Translation by Tony Böhle
plötzlich die Nachricht
von ihrem Brustkrebs…
in meinen Morgenkaffee
gebe ich
noch einen Würfel Zucker
Featured Poet, Einunddreissig, November 2015
after breast surgery
we struggle for words
to fill the silence
she says they’ll never sag
as I see cut roses in a vase
Bright Stars, II, 2014
after surgery
both of us said nothing...
her red bra
in the corner of my mind
begins to change color
Second Place, the 60th Pennsylvania Poetry Society Annual Contest
first glimpse
of her mastectomy bra
winter rose
Runner-Up, 2015 Fifth Vladimir Devidé Haiku Award