One Man's Maple Moon: Countless Needles Tanka by Kozue Uzawa

English Original

this acupuncturist

inserts countless needles

on my back

accurately detecting

my deeply rooted sorrow

red lights, 5:1, 2009

Kozue Uzawa

 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

這位針灸師

在我背上

插入無數的針

準確地檢測出

我深沉的悲傷

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

这位针灸师

在我背上

插入无数的针

准确地检测出

我深沉的悲伤

 

 

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.

A Room of My Own: Unnamed Grief Haiku

aftermath of floods

the trail of this

unnamed grief

FYI: This is could be read as a sequel to the following haiku:

flashfloodallboundariesdissolve

Haiku Quarterly, 1:1, 1989

Marian Olson

And BBC News, June 17, 2024: How climate change worsens heatwaves, droughts, wildfires and floods

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXXVI: "Gaza's safe zone"

written in response to Associated Press News, July 3: Life and death in Gaza’s ‘safe zone’ where food is scarce and Israel strikes without warning

mule-drawn wagons

wind past one mound of rubble

after another ...

across the bottom of my screen

scrolls the text: from here to nowhere

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXXVII: " flares and blasts "

to the likes of Takahama Kyoshi (1874 --1959), a student of Masaoka Shiki and the editor of the most influential haiku magazine, Hototogisu, during WWII, who claimed that "haiku was essentially the art of "singing about flowers and birds ..." 

Gaza's night sky lit

by the red glow of flares and blasts 

with news on mute

eyes closed and ears covered

the poet writes, skylark's trilling

Added: Game Show, 2024, LIX

written in response to NBC News, July 3: Joe Biden says he’s ‘in this race to the end’ amid growing calls to drop out

end-of-the-race dream

the earth at its farthest point

from the sun

FYI: July 5 marks the earth’s aphelion - farthest point from the sun, a big astronomical milestone called aphelion. 

And The New Yorker, July 3: This Is What the Twenty-fifth Amendment Was Designed For

If Joe Biden doesn’t willingly resign, there’s another solution, which would allow Democrats to unite around a new incumbent.

A Room of My Own: Normal Life, A Soap Bubble

my friend turns forty

the age his father died

he mutters

the Grim Reaper haunts me

like my walking shadow

breaking news

at the first light of spring dawn

my friend's stooped back

bends a little further

from grief after grief

thick foggy air

with no sun visible

my friend murmurs

how many mornings are left

for me with something new

my friend dies

alone in his attic room

but the shade of death

has been always on his mind

since his mother hung herself

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXI: "aid worker"

please bury me

with no casket, no prayers

face down, away

from this shrapnel-filled world:

the note in an aid worker's hand

Added: Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, LXII: "Holocaust Remembrance Day "

written in response to Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day, evening of Sunday, May 5, 2024 – Monday, May 6, 2024, observed by  the State of Israel and many Jews around the world)

And inspired by the following remark by Marek Edelman, the deputy commander of the "Warsaw Ghetto" Uprising and the only leader to survive the war

To be a JEW means always being with the Oppressed and never the oppressors.

a standstill

for two minutes in Israel ...

fifty miles away

fighter jet after fighter jet

silencing everything below 

FYI: This is a sequel to my tanka below:

for Phil Chernofsky, author of And Every Single One Was Someone ("Holocaust Told in One Word, 6 Million Times," Jodi Rudoren's review)

line upon line

page after page

the word

Jew

six million times

NeverEnding Story, January 27, 2014

And in contrast with the following entry:

Against the Drowning Noise of Other Words, XI: "Holocaust"

written on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

in response to UN top court's/ICJ's genocide case against Israel ruling

and for Jewish Israelis 

Aftermath

blot out Amalek ...

clutching his bible a rabbi 

lost in thought 

Holocaust Remembrance

Together We Will Win

[peace... peace only]

candlelight virgil

a tattooed survivor holds

a Stop the War sign

NeverEnding Story, January 27, 2024

And The Nation, May 7: Biden Must Condemn Israel’s Attack on Al Jazeera—Now

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government shut down the network’s operations in Israel. Press freedom advocates are raising an outcry, and Americans should back them up.

Netanyahu’s decision—which came just two days after World Press Freedom Day—has been condemned by the leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz (“Israel Must Not Shut Down Al Jazeera”) 

Middle East historian Assal Rad posted images from Rafah with the message, “This is why Israel is shutting down Al Jazeera. They don’t want us to see what they’re going to do in Rafah, the last refuge for Palestinians in Gaza,” while former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said, “Israel’s banning of Al Jazeera is one aspect of its War On Truth. It aims at preventing Israelis from knowing what goes on in Gaza.”

Butterfly Dream: Chrysanthemum Moon Haiku by Pamela A. Babusci

English Original

chrysanthemum moon

i peel off another layer 

of sorrow  

Finalist, 2004 Yellow Moon Haiku Contest

Pamela A. Babusci

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

菊花月

我剝掉另一層

的悲傷

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

菊花月

我剥掉另一层

的悲伤

 

Bio Sketch

Pamela A. Babusci  is an internationally award winning haiku, tanka poet and haiga artist. Some of her awards include: Museum of Haiku Literature Award, International Tanka Splendor Awards, First Place Yellow Moon Competition (Aust) tanka category,  First Place Kokako Tanka Competition,(NZ) First Place Saigyo Tanka Awards (US), Basho Festival Haiku Contests (Japan).  Pamela has illustrated several books, including: Full Moon Tide: The Best of Tanka Splendor Awards, Taboo Haiku, Chasing the Sun, Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, and A Thousand Reasons 2009. Pamela was the founder and now is the solo Editor of Moonbathing: a journal of women’s tanka; the first all women’s tanka journal in the US.

One Man's Maple Moon: Past Griefs Tanka by Sanford Goldstein

English Original

again

this catalogue

of past griefs

and I keep washing

the same dish

This Tanka World, 1977

Sanford Goldstein 

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

再一次

想起這個過去的悲傷

明細目錄

我一直在清洗

相同的餐盤

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

再一次

想起这个过去的悲伤

明细目录

我一直在清洗

相同的餐盘

Bio Sketch

Sanford Goldstein has published tanka for more than fifty years.  He was born in 1925 and passed away in May 2023. Long ago, he wrote haiku, but decided to focus on tanka. His latest books, three in the last two years, have each said this would be his last.

Poetic Musings: Sadness Tanka by Saigyo

All so vague:

In autumn the reasons why

All fall away

And there’s just this

Inexplicable sadness. 

Mirror for the Moon: A Selection of Poems by Saigyo, 1978

Saigyo

Commentary: Saigyo’s poem “works” by conflating leaves with human purposes, season with mood. His depressed response to the fall of leaves and approach of winter is a familiar one, but the basic metaphor implies that leaves in bud or in full flower may signal other moods. 

-- -- excerpted from To the Lighthouse: "Copying to Create: The Role of Imitation and Emulation in Developing Haiku Craft" by Michele Root-Bernstein

A Room of My Own: The Ritual

alone

underneath these sheets

dreamless night

clink, clunk, clink

of my spoon and fork

morning chill

graveyard garden 

I walk through the memory

of her laughter

gathering dark

on the way home a stone

settles in my heart

Added: for Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous 

The truth is we can survive our lives, but not our skin. But you know this already.

this snow-on-snow world

of one color breaking me 

bone by bone ...

afterward I'll be stronger

at the broken places

Added:

gathering dusk ...
a row of teenagers
in MAGA hats
paint the border wall
with drunken shadows

(FYI: MAGA stands for Make America Great Again) 

One Man's Maple Moon: Outdoor Cafe Tanka by George Swede

English Original

outdoor café

a man as old as i

with a smile

that reveals a truce

with sadness 

Arithmetic, 2020

George Swede

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

戶外咖啡館

一個和我一樣老的人

面帶微笑

流露出與他的悲傷

和平相處

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

户外咖啡馆

一个和我一样老的人

面带微笑

流露出与他的悲伤

和平相处

Bio Sketch

George Swede's most recent collections of haiku are Almost Unseen (Decatur, IL: Brooks Books, 2000), Joy In Me Still (Edmonton: Inkling Press, 2010) and micro haiku: three to nine syllables (Inspress, 2014). He is a former editor of Frogpond: Journal of the Haiku Society of America (2008-2012) and a former Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives (2008-2009).

One Man's Maple Moon: Lingering Grief Tanka by Hemapriya Chellappan

English Original

lingering grief ... 

the scent of grandma 

on the porch

where star jasmines

used to bloom

Hemapriya Chellappan

Chinese Translation (Traditional)

揮之不去的悲痛 ...

奶奶的味道

縈繞在門廊上

這是星星茉莉

曾經盛開過之處

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

挥之不去的悲痛 ...

奶奶的味道

萦绕在门廊上

这是星星茉莉

曾经盛开过之处

Bio Sketch

Hemapriya Chellappan is an engineer turned writer. When she isn't daydreaming she writes haiku, sketches landscapes, hums old songs, practices puns and makes excellent tea. 

One Man's Maple Moon: Leaf Mulch Tanka by Carole MacRury

English Original

a light rain
upon leaf mulch --
an old grief
mingles with the scent
of late autumn

Simply Haiku, 7:2,  Summer 2009

Carole MacRury 


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

小雨

落在護根樹葉堆 --

舊的悲傷

與深秋的氣息

交融在一起

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

小雨

落在护根树叶堆 --

旧的悲伤

与深秋的气息

交融在一起

Bio Sketch

Carole MacRury resides in Point Roberts, Washington, a unique peninsula and border town that inspires her work.  She is the author of In the Company of Crows: Haiku and Tanka Between the Tides (Black Cat Press, 2008, 2nd Printing, 2018) and The Tang of Nasturtiums, an award-winning e-chapbook (Snapshot Press 2012).  

One Man's Maple Moon: Last Drop Tanka by Pamela A. Babusci

English Original

these days colored
with a tinge of sorrow
i squeeze out
the last drop
of crimson paint

Red Lights, June 2018

Pamela A. Babusci


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

這些天的天色

帶有一絲悲傷

我用力擠出

最後一滴

的深紅色顏料

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

这些天的天色

带有一丝悲伤

我用力挤出

最后一滴

的深红色颜料

 

Bio Sketch

Pamela A. Babusci  is an internationally award winning haiku, tanka poet and haiga artist. Some of her awards include: Museum of Haiku Literature Award, International Tanka Splendor Awards, First Place Yellow Moon Competition (Aust) tanka category,  First Place Kokako Tanka Competition,(NZ) First Place Saigyo Tanka Awards (US), Basho Festival Haiku Contests (Japan).  Pamela has illustrated several books, including: Full Moon Tide: The Best of Tanka Splendor Awards, Taboo Haiku, Chasing the Sun, Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, and A Thousand Reasons 2009. Pamela was the founder and now is the solo Editor of Moonbathing: a journal of women’s tanka; the first all women’s tanka journal in the US.

One Man's Maple Moon: Sullen Griefs Tanka by Sanford Goldstein

English Original

how can I tell
my permanent sullen griefs
even to these walls?
not once have I tried
confessing them to myself

American Tanka, 23, 2014

Sanford Goldstein


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

甚至面對這些牆壁
我如何訴說
這些恆常的憂傷？
我一次都沒有嘗試過
向我自己坦白

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

甚至面对这些墙壁
我如何诉说
这些恒常的忧伤？
我一次都没有尝试过
向我自己坦白


Bio Sketch

Sanford Goldstein has been publishing tanka for more than fifty years.  He was born in 1925 and is now 95 years old.  Long ago, he wrote haiku, but decided to focus on tanka. His latest books, three in the last two years, have each said this would be his last.

Butterfly Dream: Closet Haiku by Jan Benson

English Original

the darkest
corner of a closet
cut upon cut

Gnarled Oak, Spring 2018

Jan Benson


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在壁櫥
最黑暗的的角落
一刀一刀地割

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在壁橱
最黑暗的的角落
一刀一刀地割


Bio Sketch

Jan Benson is a Pushcart Prize nominated haiku poet living in Texas. Benson's haiku are published in many of the world's leading haiku journals and magazines. Jan is a member of The World Haiku Association and Poetry Society of Texas. Jan's profile can be found on The Haiku Foundation "Poet Registry" and online at The Living Haiku Anthology.

One Man's Maple Moon: Grieving Tanka by Richard St. Clair

English Original

refuge at home
in a steady cold rain
puddles everywhere
and the sky growing dark
as if it knew my grieving

Atlas Poetica, 17, Spring 2014

Richard St. Clair


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

避難在家
一場源源不斷的冰冷大雨
到處都是水坑
而天空漸漸變暗
好像它知道我的悲傷

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

避难在家
一场源源不断的冰冷大雨
到处都是水坑
而天空渐渐变暗
好像它知道我的悲伤 


Bio Sketch

Richard St. Clair (b.1946), in addition to an accomplished poet, is a recognized composer of modern classical music, performed widely. His poems -- not only haiku but also tanka and Western forms such as sonnet -- have appeared in many important venues. He is a Shin Buddhist in Massachusetts, USA.

One Man's Maple Moon: Box of Ashes Tanka by Mary Davila

English Original

half asleep
I feel the bed bounce
as if our cat had jumped up ...
paw prints
on his box of ashes

Skylark, 3:1, Summer 2015

Mary Davila


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

半睡半醒
我感覺到床的跳動
好像我們的貓在跳躍 ...
在骨灰盒上
他的掌印


Chinese Translation (Simplified)

半睡半醒
我感觉到床的跳动
好像我们的猫在跳跃...
在骨灰盒上
他的掌印

Bio Sketch

Mary Davila and her husband, Frank, live in Buffalo, NY.  She relies on her faith for everything, including writing.  Mary began to explore haiku and haiga in 2006.  Her work has been published in numerous online journals and in print.  In 2014, tanka became her main focus.  Her website  is www.petalsinthelight.com

Butterfly Dream: Old Grief Haiku by Rebecca Drouilhet

English Original

autumn sea ...
the driftwood shapes
of old grief

The Heron's Nest, 19:2, June 2017

Rebecca Drouilhet


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

秋天的大海 ...
一根浮木形塑古老悲傷
的樣式

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

秋天的大海 ...
一根浮木形塑古老悲伤
的样式


Bio Sketch

Rebecca Drouilhet is a retired registered nurse whose haiku and tanka have appeared in numerous print journal and ezines.  She won a Sakura Award in the 2012 Vancouver Cherry Blossom Haiku Invitation and an Honorable Mention in that same contest in 20`7.  The Japanese Tanka Poets Society has awarded her a Certificate of Fine Tanka.  In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing word games and spending time with her large family in Picayune, Mississippi.

Butterfly Dream: Day of the Dead Haiku by Anna Maris

English Original

day of the dead
i find myself grieving
the living

Winner, 2016 Haiku Calendar Competition

Anna Maris


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

紀念死者的日子
我發覺自己為活的人
而哀悼
   
Chinese Translation (Simplified)

纪念死者的日子
我发觉自己为活的人
而哀悼


Bio Sketch

Anna Maris is a Swedish haiku poet. Her bi-lingual poetry collection Lifedeathetc/Livdödetc (2016) is published by Red Moon Press. She also has two collections in Swedish: Transport (2015) and Skiftningar (2013) and appears in over 20 anthologies. Anna is an editor of Blåeld, the journal of the Swedish haiku society. http://annamaris.wordpress.com

One Man's Maple Moon: Winter Wind Tanka by Munira Judith Avinger

English Original

winter wind
enters the house
I can't protect
my children
from sorrow

Gusts, 19, Spring/Summer 2014

Munira Judith Avinger


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

冬季大風
颳入屋內
我無法保護
孩子們
免於悲傷

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

冬季大风
刮入屋内
我无法保护
孩子们
免于悲伤


Bio Sketch

Munira Judith Avinger is an author living in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. She has  published three bilingual poetry books, one novel and one memoir. She is also a mentor and  leader of the Dances of Universal Peace. For more information about her work, please visit www.munirabooks.com

A Room of My Own: Viva Fidel Tanka

Viva Fidel
fading into the dark
a cloud
of cigar smoke
engulfs an old Cuban

One Man's Maple Moon: Bones Tanka by Susan Constable

English Original

walking
from rain to sleet
to snow …
the years sink deeper
into my bones

Susan Constable


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

步行中天氣變化
從細雨到雨雪
到下雪 ...
這些年的苦痛更深地進入
我的骨髓中

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

步行中天气变化
从细雨到雨雪
到下雪 ...
这些年的苦痛更深地进入
我的骨髓中


Bio Sketch

Susan Constable’s tanka appear in numerous journals and anthologies, including Take Five. Her tanka collection, The Eternity of Waves, was one of the winning entries in the eChapbook Awards for 2012. She is currently the tanka editor for the international on-line journal, A Hundred Gourds.