Saturday, December 29, 2018

One Man's Maple Moon: Hometown Bar Tanka by Barry George

English Original

half-lit at soft angles
in the wee hours
of this hometown bar
a waitress I knew
twenty-five years ago

Streetlights: Poetry of Urban Life in Modern English Tanka, 2009
                                           
Barry George


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

凌晨在家鄉酒吧
柔和半亮半暗
的燈光之下
這位女服務生
是我二十五年前認識的

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

凌晨在家乡酒吧
柔和半亮半暗
的灯光之下
这位女服务生
是我二十五年前认识的


Bio Sketch

Barry George is the author of Wrecking Ball and Other Urban Haiku and The One That Flies Back, a chapbook of tanka. He has won the AWP Intro Poets Award, a Pushcart Prize nomination, and numerous Japanese short-form competitions, including First Prize in the Gerald R. Brady Senryu Contest.

1 comment:

  1. The visually and emotionally evocative upper verse sets the tone and mood of the tanka while the lower verse adds emotional weight and psychological depth to the tanka.

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