Thursday, March 4, 2021

Butterfly Dream: Bikini Top Haiku by Naomi Beth Wakan

English Original

end of summer 
pinned to the park notice-board 
a bikini top

Wind on the Heath, 2020 

Naomi Beth Wakan


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

夏天結束了
一件比基尼上衣被釘在
公園佈告欄

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

夏天结束了
一件比基尼上衣被钉在
公园布告栏


Bio Sketch

Naomi Beth Wakan is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Nanaimo (2014–16) and the Federation of British Columbia Writer’s Inaugural Honorary Ambassador. She has published over fifty books. Her most recent book of essays, On the Arts, came out in 2020 (Shanti Arts). Her trilogy, The Way of Tanka, The Way of Haiku, and Poetry That Heals was published by Shanti Arts in 2019. Wakan is a member of The League of Canadian Poets, Haiku Canada, and Tanka Canada. She lives on Gabriola Island, British Columbia, Canada, with her husband, the sculptor Elias Wakan.

1 comment:

  1. L1 sets the theme and tone while unexpected yet visually arresting imagistic Ls 2&3 not only enhance the "hai" aspect of this "end of summer" haiku, but also reveals the narrator's state of mood.

    And it might be interesting to do a comparative reading of the following "bikini poems" (one tanka and one haiku):

    One Hundred Tenth Entry, Coronavirus Poetry Diary

    Forever Sunshine
    blasting from the radio ...
    a masked woman
    undoes the ties
    of her red bikini

    NeverEnding Story, September 19 2020

    Chen-ou Liu

    deserted beach --
    a bikini top
    rolls in on a wave

    Erotic Haiku, 2016

    Michael Dylan Welch

    ReplyDelete