Fun with Translation

(Drew Bryden/Flickr)

This past weekend I participated in a haiku invitational sponsored by Olga Hooper, a haijin who generously translated all English submissions into Russian and vice versa.

So check it out, here are my haiku on the invited theme (blue heron and lotus pond), in English and in Russian!

lotus pond and heron
locked in a staring contest —
each open, each still

пруд лотосов и цапля
кто кого переглядит —
оба раскрыты, оба неподвижны

***

still from the neck down,
blue heron waits for the fish
to forget

застыв с головы до пят,
голубая цапля караулит
рассеянную рыбку

***

blue on blue on blue —
even knowing where to look
I lose the heron

голубое на голубом в голубом —
даже зная, куда смотреть
потеряла из вида цаплю

(A warm thank you to Olga Hooper, aka Origa, for her
kind invitation and careful translation work!)