English Original
Fay Aoyagi
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
在史密森尼博物館
完好無損的零式戰鬥機 --
陣陣櫻花雨
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
在史密森尼博物馆
完好无损的零式战斗机 --
阵阵樱花雨
Bio Sketch
Fay Aoyagi （青柳飛）was born in Tokyo and immigrated to the U.S. in 1982. She is currently a member of Haiku Society of America and Haiku Poets of Northern California. She serves as an associate editor of The Heron's Nest. She also writes in Japanese and belongs to two Japanese haiku groups; Ten'I (天為) and "Aki"（秋), and she is a member of Haijin Kyokai (俳人協会).
The sharp contrasts, aesthetic, cultural, sociopolitical, and symbolic, between the Zero fighter, the most famous symbol of Japanese air power, and fallen cherry blossoms are timely and poignantly effective.
ReplyDeleteAnd when evaulated in the socio-military context of the end of the Pacific Theater of WWII, there is an "implied simile," perceived by most of the so-called "patriotic" Japanese people, between the "lives" of youthful Zero fighter pilots/Kamikaze pilots/suicide pilots and the "fleeting beauty" of cherry blossom rain.
And Fay's Kamikaze haiku below could be read as a sequel:
fireflies --
a Kamikaze mother whispers
her son's name
Chrysanthemum Love, 2003