by Li Zhuang
[1] This tanka is inspired by “昨年は、何も無かった。一昨年は、何も無かった。その前のとしも、何も無かった” in Osamu Dazai’s The Setting Sun, translated by Donald Keene.
LI ZHUANG is a Chinese bilingual writer. In 2019, Li graduated with an MFA in Fiction Writing from Columbia University. Her works have been featured in The Common, Denver Quarterly, the Madison Review, Southeast Review, Worcester Review, the Collapsar, etc. Li is currently working on a poetry project that, much like the Chinese zodiac’s use of animals to symbolize personality and fate, uses animal metaphors to reflect her journey as a Chinese diasporic poet in the United States.
