Friday, March 7, 2025

Butterfly Dream: Winter Afternoon Haiku by Patricia Donegan

English Original

winter afternoon
not one branch moves --
I listen to my bones

Haikun Studio, 1991

Patricia Donegan 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

冬日午後
沒有一根樹枝移動 --
我聆聽我的骨頭

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

冬日午后
没有一根树枝移动 --
我聆听我的骨头


Bio Sketch

Patricia Donegan (1945 -- 2023) led a life of creative exploration, meditation, writing, translating and teaching haiku, and teaching haiku. Three of her most famous books of haiku Love Haiku: Japanese Poems of Yearning, Passion & Remembrance (co-translated with Yoshie Ishibashi), Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart, and Chiyo-ni Woman Haiku Master (co-translated with Yoshie Ishibashi). In 2017 she was named the honorary curator of the American Haiku Archives.

1 comment:

  1. Ls 1&2 depict a scene of winter stillness while unexpected yet fresh and multi-sensorily evocative L3 makes this haiku emotionally effective.

    And it might be interesting to do a comparison reading, thematic and stylistic, of the following haiku:

    alone floating bones

    yards & lots, 2012

    Jack Galmitz

    ReplyDelete