Sunday, July 8, 2018

One Man's Maple Moon: All That Remains Tanka by S. M. Kozubek

English Original

beside our bed
all that remains
of our years:
your picture, a ring,
this lock of your hair

A Hundred Gourds, 4:4, September 2015

S. M. Kozubek


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在我們的床邊
擺放這些年來共同生活
所剩下的:
你的照片,一枚戒指,
以及一縷你的頭髮

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在我们的床边
摆放这些年来共同生活
所剩下的:
你的照片,一枚戒指,
以及一缕你的头发


Bio Sketch

After retiring from practicing law, S. M. Kozubek spends more time now writing poems. His haiku and tanka have appeared in Frogpond, A Hundred Gourds, Prune Juice, Modern Haiku, bottle rockets, Skylark, is/let, Red Moon Anthology, hedgerow, and other publications. He is a member of the Haiku Society of America.

2 comments:

  1. Emotionally and symbolically speaking, S. M. Kozubek's tanka effectively builds, line by line, to an visually and thematically powerful ending, a lock of hair, which has been used to be a "sign of love and devotion, a popular trope in fiction, particularly the romance genre."

    In the thematic context of this "middle-of-the-story tanka," the symbol of a lock of hair is layered with multiple meanings.

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  2. Thank you for your very insightful comments, Chen-ou.

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