Microchip Tanka

First published in Gusts #22, Fall/Winter 2015, page 14. Translation by Kozue Uzawa, published in a Japanese essay by Michio Ohno in Gendai Tanka (October 2015) on tanka about urban life. +

driving to work

on Valentine’s Day

without you

a microchip reminds me

to fasten my seatbelt

君の来ぬ

バレンタインデー

出勤す

「シートベルトを」と

マイクロチップが

kimi no konu

barentain dē

shukkin su

“shīto beruto o” to

maikuro-chippu ga