Translated into Chinese by Chen-ou Liu:
zombie fires
come back from the dead . . .
this wilderness
haunted by skeletons
and memories of trees
Blithe Spirit 35.4, 2025
Chen-ou Liu's Comments:
This tanka bridges climate science and Gothic imagery. In L1, "zombie fires," refers to overwintering peat fires that smoulder underground through freezing winters before reigniting in spring. By framing this ecological phenomenon as a literal haunting in L2, the tanka emphasizes the lingering trauma climate change inflicts upon natural landscapes.
In L4, "skeletons" operates as a powerful double entendre, evoking both charred tree trunks and traditional images of the dead. L5, "memories of trees," deepens the sense of grief and absence, suggesting ecosystems that survive only as traces or recollections. Nature is irrevocably altered: the once-living forest has become a graveyard of skeletons that refuses to rest in peace.
