English Original
last journey
first time in a mercedes
then a guinness urn ...
the gates are grey, not pearly
bloody hell, is this it?
Neon Graffiti, 2016
Mary Gunn
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
最後的旅程
第一次坐賓士轎車
然後是吉尼斯骨灰罈 ...
Translation resul
大門是灰色, 不是珍珠色
該死, 是這裡嗎?
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
最后的旅程
第一次坐宾士轿车
然后是吉尼斯骨灰坛 ...
大门是灰色, 不是珍珠色
该死, 是这里吗?
Bio Sketch
Mary Gunn has been writing haiku, tanka and cherita for several years. Her tanka has appeared in a variety of publications, both online and in print, including Eucalypt, Blithe Spirit, Presence, Moonbathing, Atlas Poetica, cattails and Poetry Quarterly.
The strength of Mary's tanka about one of various forms of existential dread (death anxiety) depends on its posthumous narration in a satirical tone that highlights the contrasts, "earthly pursuits" (as implied from L2) and the "afterlife possibility" (Ls 4&5).
ReplyDeleteA deceased narrator tells readers the story/last journey, L1: "first time in a mercedes"/then a "guinness urn, Ls 2&3; then the resting place NOT the "pearly gates," implied from Ls 4&5, an informal name for the gateway to Heaven according to some Christian denominations, which is inspired by the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:21:
"The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate being made from a single pearl."
To the best of my knowledge, Mary's tanka is the second one written from a posthumous perspective.
Th first one is the opening tanka of my 9-tanka sequence, "The NeverEnding Story between Calliope and Me: A Tanka Sequence
for Michael Ende," which was first published in "Haiku Canada Review, "7:1, "February 2013"
first light touching
the empty side of my bed . . .
on my headstone
"A poet's life is lived
in the shadow of the Muse"
To read the whole sequence, please visit http://chenouliu.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-neverending-story-between-calliope.html