the way
he didn't look at me
when I told him ...
still unripe, this tangle
of wild blackberries
A Hundred Gourds, 2:2, March 2013
Kirsten Cliff Elliot
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
當我告訴他時
他沒有注視我
的樣子 ...
仍然沒熟，這個糾纏在一起
的野生黑莓
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
当我告诉他时
他没有注视我
的样子 ...
仍然没熟，这个纠缠在一起
的野生黑莓
Bio Sketch
Kirsten
Cliff Elliot is a New Zealand poet and writer. She works in a high
school library and is studying towards a BA in Information and Library
Studies. Together with her husband, she blogs at Help! My husband has Asperger’s: Our life on the spectrum’s edge.
Made up of five poetic phrases/ku and structured into two parts, the upper verse sets the theme and mood while the visually evocative and symbolically rich image of the lower verse adds emotional weight and psychological depth to this middle-of-the-story relationship tanka. And the image of "unripe" and "tangle[d]" blackberries might give a hint for the answer to the question of why not looking at the speaker.
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