Wednesday, December 18, 2024

One Man's Maple Moon: Kindness Tanka by Marion Alice Poirier

English Original

an old woman
sits on a park bench
counting change --
the kindness of strangers
softens her wrinkled face

Marion Alice Poirier


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一位老婦人
坐在公園的長椅上
計數零錢 --
陌生人的善意
撫平她佈滿皺紋的臉
    
Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一位老妇人
坐在公园的长椅上
计数零钱 --
陌生人的善意
抚平她布满皱纹的脸


Bio Sketch

Marion Alice Poirier is a lifetime resident of Boston, MA. She began writing haiku in 2001 and eventually began to teach haiku in workshops on Poetry Circle and Emerging Poets. She also write short poetry and have been published in on-line haiku and short poetry journals like Tinywords, Hedgerow and The Heron's Nest.

1 comment:

  1. Marion's tanka effectively builds, line/poetic phrase, ku by line/poetic phrase, ku, to a thematically relevant and visually and emotionally powerful ending.

    A heartwarming tanka!

    And it might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of my tanka below:

    the young man
    flashes a gap-toothed grin
    at passersby
    a few coins glint
    in the winter light

    Atlas Poetica, 37, 2019

    ReplyDelete