sheets
of birch bark
peel so easily ...
I cling to my persona
much too tightly
Moonbathing, Autumn/Winter 2015
Sally Biggar
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
一片片
白樺樹皮
輕易地剝離 ...
我過度堅持扮演
我的公眾角色
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
一片片
白樺樹皮
輕易地剝離 ...
我過度堅持扮演
我的公众角色
Bio Sketch
Sally Biggar recently (and very reluctantly) left Port Townsend, Washington and moved back to her native state of Maine. She delights in re-discovering the peninsulas and coves of the Maine coast after being away for 25 years. Her tanka can be found in the usual places online, and in print journals and anthologies.
The contrasts between the two parts of the tanka are thematically significant and emotionally poignant. This thought-provoking tanka reminds me of this iconic opening image of Ingmar Bergman's 1966 psychological film,"Persona," and my tanka below could be read as a counter-poem:
ReplyDeleteI live alone
locked in the ghostly past ...
the face in the mirror
as foreign to me
as a Mardi Gras mask
Gusts, 27, Spring/Summer2018