English Original
gibbous moon
my ear on the curve
of her belly
Galaxy of Dust, 2015
Angelee Deodhar
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
凸形月
我的耳朵貼在她的腹部
的曲線上
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
凸形月
我的耳朵贴在她的腹部
的曲线上
Bio Sketch
Angelee Deodhar of Chandigarh (India) was an eye surgeon by profession as well as a haiku poet, translator, and artist. Her haiku/haiga has been published internationally. She didn't have her own website.To promote haiku in India, she has translated six books of haiku from English to Hindi.
The gibbous moon is a little less than a full moon, but a little more than a half moon. In this haiku, the other is referring to the belly of a pregnant woman, and someone is putting their ear closer to the child inside, maybe to hear it kick or to display affection toward the mother. The moon has long been intertwined with women. Often, writers will gender the moon and refer to it as “she” and “her.” The moon has also been thought to have something to do with the timing of women’s menstrual cycles. While this has not exactly been proven, many take it as fact. Opening the haiku with “gibbous moon” brings time into the scene. This is a phase of the moon, and phases of the moon signify change and seasons passing. I love how this poem, and the person speaking in it, weaves together the moon and the pregnant woman. They place her on the same level as the moon, beautiful, glowing, always undergoing change, and admired... excerpted from Madeline Curtin, "Time and Space Haiku," accessed at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.brooksbookshaiku.com/MillikinHaiku/courses/globalFall2019/MaddieCurtin-Time&Space.pdf
And my haiku below could be read as its sequel:
slanted light
the rise and fall
of her belly
NeverEnding, July 4 2022