English Original
the pine sap
that would not wash from my hands
darkens . . .
night after night
dream creatures speak your last words
Second Place, 2001 Tanka Society of America Tanka Contest
Linda Jeannette Ward
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
我手上洗不掉
的松樹汁液
它的顏色變暗
一夜又一夜
夢中的生靈道出你的遺言
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
我手上洗不掉
的松树汁液
它的颜色变暗
一夜又一夜
梦中的生灵道出你的遗言
Bio Sketch
Linda Jeannette Ward was best known for her tanka poetry, published in journals internationally, and included in two collections: A Frayed Red Thread (Clinging Vine Press, 2000) and Scent of Jasmine and Brine (Inkling Press, 2007). Her tanka won 2nd and 3rd prizes in the Tanka Society of America's annual competition, as well as four Tanka Splendor Awards. And her collection, a delicate dance of wings, received the Haiku Society of America's 2003 Merit Book Award for Best Book of Haibun.
Again this tanka presents a clear image that the reader can identify with. How many of us have unknowingly gotten pine pitch on our hands, and the more we tried to rub it off, the stickier and dirtier our hands became? Because the first part of this tanka is so accurately portrayed, we trust what the poet tells us in the second half of the poem. There is an intuitive leap from the smearyness of the pine sap to a quality of that dark night. Someone’s last words even travel into the real of dreams and come back to haunt us...
ReplyDelete-- excerpted from the judge's commentary, accessed at https://www.tankasocietyofamerica.org/tsa-contest/past-winners-and-judges-comments/2001-winners