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.
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."
ReplyDeleteIn the thematic context of this "middle-of-the-story tanka," the symbol of a lock of hair is layered with multiple meanings.
Thank you for your very insightful comments, Chen-ou.
ReplyDelete