English Original
the zigzag path
of indecision ...
squirrel tracks
across light snow
leading nowhere
A Hundred Gourds, 1:2, March 2012
Kirsty Karkow
Chinese Translation (Traditional)
猶豫不決
像似之字形的路徑
松鼠足跡
穿越過薄雪
通向無處可去之路
Chinese Translation (Simplified)
犹豫不决
像似之字形的路径
松鼠足迹
穿越过薄雪
通向无处可去之路
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.
Visually and emotionally poignant Ls 3-5 could be read as a foreshadowing of the consequence of symbolically ominous Ls 1&2.
ReplyDeleteThis in/decision tanka reminds me of the following remarks:
If you take too long in deciding what to do with your life, you'll find you've done it.
-- Pamela Shaw
Indecision is a decision.
-- Jason Evert
And my tanka below could be read as its prequel
a squirrel runs
up one tree, down another
up and down . . .
I murmur to myself
"what do you want in life"
Atlas Poetica, 38, 2019