English Original
re-crossing
the border
a guard
asks my destination:
the country ahead
Sketchbook, 5:2, March/April 2010
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
再次
穿越邊界
守衛詢問
我的目的地：
就在前面
再次
穿越边界
守卫询问
我的目的地：
就在前面
Bio Sketch
Brian Zimmer wrote from the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri. His work had appeared in various international print and online journals. He took inspiration from a variety of sources, including the ancient Japanese poetic-diary (utanikki) and free-form, poetic "essay" (zuihitsu).
Evaluated in the sociopolitical context of migration issues in North America, L5 is layered with multiple meanings, and on a second reading, "border," "destination," and "country" effectively carry emotional weight and symbolic significance.
ReplyDeleteAnd it might be interesting to do a comparative reading of the following tanka:
Canadian geese
hiss at each passerby
somewhere
guns are fired
at a border crossing
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