the casino
for high rollers
casts shadows
over park benches
littered with homeless
Skylark, 5:1, Summer 2017
Keitha Keyes
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
給高級顧客消費
的一座賭場
投下它的陰影
覆蓋一排公園長椅
無家可歸人們睡在上面
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
给高级顾客消费
的一座赌场
投下它的阴影
覆盖一排公园长椅
无家可归人们睡在上面
Bio Sketch
Keitha Keyes lives in Sydney, Australia, in a small house decorated with ship models, antique irons and trivets. And a cocker spaniel. Her retirement would be very empty without the lure of writing tanka, haiku, cherita and other poetry.
The contrast between the two parts of the tanka is visually and emotionally shocking and the verb choice in L5 further adds poignancy to the poem.
ReplyDeleteKeitha's urban tanka reminds me of the following poem on a similar topic:
one block away
from E-business conference
a man
with a shopping cart
talking to the sky
Honorable Mention, 2010 TSA International Tanka Contest
Fay Aoyagi