Saturday, May 31, 2025

One Man's Maple Moon: Chick-A-Dee-Dee Tanka by Kozue Uzawa

English Original

a chickadee
singing chick-a-dee-dee
I take it easy
this tiring summer---
I skip my tap lessons

Gusts, 34, Fall/winter 2021

Kozue Uzawa

 
Chinese Translation (Traditional)

一隻山雀
快樂地不停歌唱
這個疲憊的夏天
我打算放鬆一下 --
逃掉了踢踏舞課

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

一只山雀
快乐地不停歌唱
这个疲惫的夏天
我打算放松一下 --
逃掉了踢踏舞课
 
 
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.

1 comment:

  1. The contrasts (mood: happy, L2 vs tired, Ls 3&4 and auditory: birdsong, L2 vs tapping sound, L5) between the two parts of the tanka are fresh and multi-sensorily effective.

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