English Original
I leave
a stranger
to this land
holding
an open cage
Spring's First Caress, 2015
Brian Zimmer
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
我把
一個陌生人
留在這片土地上
手裡拿著
一個敞開的籠子
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
我把
一个陌生人
留在这片土地上
手里拿着
一个敞开的笼子
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).
This is one of the most enigmatic tanka I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteThis 11-word and 14-syllable tanka sparks my emotions toward the "stranger" in "this land"/Ls 2&3 and reflection on the significance, thematic and symbolic, of holding an "open" "cage"/Ls 4&5.
This tanka reminds me of Brian's remark below:
I'm convinced "being a poet has nothing to do with being read." That's the responsibility of readers whoever and whatever they may be. "The poet is simply a maker of poems."
And it might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of the following tanka on "strangers:"
in a city
drifting among
strangers
sometimes I want
nothing more
Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, II, 2009
Michael McClintock