English Original
cafe coffee
with friends not seen
for a while
listening to them chatter
wondering why I came
Gusts, 21, Spring/Summer 2015
Kirsty Karkow
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在咖啡廳和久未曾見面
的朋友喝咖啡
聽他們喋喋不休
好一陣子
心想我為什麼要來
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在咖啡厅和久未曾见面
的朋友喝咖啡
听他们喋喋不休
好一阵子
心想我为什么要来
Bio Sketch
Kirsty Karkow lived in Waldoboro, Maine, where she wrote haiku, sijo, tanka, and other short forms. Lyrical, poignant, and spare, her poetry reflected a rich and deep sense of place and spirit. Her haiku have won the Mainichi and the R.H Blyth Award and placed in other contests. And she had two best-selling books in print: water poems: haiku, tanka and sijo and shorelines: haiku, haibun and tanka , published by Black Cat Press.
Kirsty's tanka effectively builds, poetic phrase (ku)/line by poetic phrase (ku)/line, to a thematically significant and emotionally poignant yet sometimes relatable ending that reveals the theme of what the essence of "true friendship" lies in the context of time's passing.
ReplyDeleteAnd it might be interesting to do a thematic comparison reading of my tanka below:
steam rising
from our coffee cups …
silence
hangs in the air
of our hazy past
British Haiku Society Tanka Anthology, 2023
Linda Jeanette Ward
It's "British Haiku Society Tanka Anthology in Memory of Linda Jeanette Ward," 2023
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