Thursday, March 15, 2018

One Man's Maple Moon: Ocean of Apathy Tanka by Keitha Keyes

English Original

refugees
sink from view
somewhere
in the ocean
of our apathy

Spent Blossoms: TSA Members’ Anthology 2015

Keitha Keyes


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

在我們海洋般廣闊
的冷漠之中
難民們
從視線的某處
下沉並消失不見

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

在我们海洋般广阔
的冷漠之中
难民们
从视线的某处
下沉并消失不见


Bio Sketch

Keitha Keyes lives in Sydney but her heart is still in the Australian bush where she grew up. She mostly writes tanka and related genres, revelling in the inspiration, friendship and generosity of these writing communities. Her work appears in many print and online journals and anthologies.

2 comments:

  1. The unexpected yet poignant last line makes a thematic shift from the objective description of a tragic event to the sociopolitical indignation against collective apathy. And the pivotal line, "in the ocean," now makes the ocean work effectively on two levels, literal and symbolic.

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  2. My tanka prose below could be read as a poetic response to the "ocean of apathy" depicted in Keitha's tanka:

    "Routine Crises"

    I key in the headline Dozens dead after boat capsizes. Phones ring, and laptops chatter with stories from around the world. Adrenaline pumps through my body like a tidal wave.

    fading tracks
    on an Aegean shore
    at twilight
    which of them belong to those
    who drowned in cold water

    I glance at the oversized clock on the rear wall of the newsroom. Its hands march closer and closer toward the deadline. And the refugee story waits to be replaced . . . with the latest news from the front lines of yet another war-torn country.

    Haibun Today, 11:1, March 2017

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