Monday, October 28, 2019

Butterfly Dream: Crowded Train Haiku by Barbara Sabol

English Original

jostle of the crowded train
pressed against my winter coat
a stranger's need

Unsealing Our Secrets: A Short-Poem Anthology about Sexual Abuse, 2018

Barbara Sabol


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

人群擠來擠去的火車
緊緊壓迫我的冬衣是一位
陌生人的需要

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

人群挤来挤去的火车
紧紧压迫我的冬衣是一位
陌生人的需要


Bio Sketch

Barbara Sabol is the author of Solitary Spin and two chapbooks, Original Ruse and The Distance Between Blues. Her poems  have most recently appeared in Chrysanthemum, Presence, Frogpond, The Comstock Review and in a number of journals and  anthologies. Barbara was awarded an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council and the Mary Jean Irion Poetry Prize. She reviews poetry books as guest contributor for the blog, Poetry Matters. Barbara lives in Akron, OH.

2 comments:

  1. L1 sets the scene and mood while unexpected and visually and emotionally disturbing/violent L3 adds thematic significance and psychological depth to the haiku.

    What's left unsaid is more important than what's written.

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  2. That last line is jarring in its impact. It speaks volumes, conjuring up the idea of this woman standing on the train, unpleasantly aware of what's happening, but perhaps too polite/somehow willing it to not be so. Really well done, visceral and real.

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