Sunday, December 4, 2022

One Man's Maple Moon: Hand in Hand Tanka by Ignatius Fay

English Original

a walk
through the park
hand in hand
talking of times
they tried dating women

Gusts, 23, Spring/Summer 2016

Ignatius Fay


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

手牽手
一起散步
穿過公園
他們談論那年代
試著和女人約會

Chinese Translation (Simplified) 

手牵手
一起散步
穿过公园
他们谈论那年代
试着和女人约会


Bio Sketch

Ignatius Fay was a retired invertebrate paleontologist. His poems had appeared in many of the most respected online and print journals, including The Heron’s NestModern HaikuArs Poetica, GustsChrysanthemum and Eucalypt. Books: Breccia (2012), a collaboration with fellow haiku poet, Irene Golas; Points In Between (2011), an anecdotal history of his first 23 years. He was the editor of the Haiku Society of America Bulletin. Ignatius resided in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

1 comment:

  1. Ignatius's tanka effectively builds, poetic phrase (ku)/line by poetic phrase (ku)/line, to an unexpected yet thematically significant and emotionally powerful ending that reveals the theme of one's [closeted] sexuality.

    This tanka reminds me of his another challenging tanka about one's [closeted] gender identity:

    he chose
    surgery to become
    a woman
    posing as a man
    to see his grandchildren

    NeverEnding Story, September 7, 2014

    ReplyDelete