English Original
irritating
skin rash around the neck
am I angry
at someone,
someone inside me?
Gusts, 15, Spring/Summer 2012
Kozue Uzawa
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
這真的很煩
脖子周圍出現了皮疹
是我對某人
生氣了嗎,
還是我內心的某人?
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
这真的很烦
脖子周围出现了皮疹
是我对某人
生气了吗,
还是我内心的某人?
Bio Sketch
Kozue Uzawa is a retired university professor. She works as editor of the English tanka journal GUSTS. She composes tanka both in Japanese and English. She also translates Japanese tanka into English and co-published Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka (Boston: Cheng & Tsui, 2006), and Kaleidoscope: Selected Tanka of Shuji Terayama (Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 2008). Ferris Wheel received the 2007 Donald Keene Translation Award for Japanese Literature from Columbia University.
Ls 1&2 set the theme of "illness" and mood, and the first response, Ls 3&4, is scientifically and emotionally reasonable while the second one, L5, makes an inward turn, adding emotional weight and psychological depth to the tanka.
ReplyDeleteAnd it might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of another illness tanka by Kozue:
this acupuncturist
inserts countless needles
on my back
accurately detecting
my deeply rooted sorrow
red lights, 5:1, 2009
FYI: "A person may suddenly get a rash in response to emotional stress. This is because stress causes the body to release adrenalin, which can contribute to the development of hives. "