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Footnote: Three Tanka [ /;\ ]
Cherry blossoms glide
upon crushed gravel as your
socks' softness (nuanced
to your nakedness) tease my
gladly bared, receptive flesh.
Spring's warm rain---fine as
mist---wets your shoeless brown socks,
your tan slacks' cuffs, your
shirtless torso, and the wild
cascade of your long, soft hair.
Acquaintances, then,
friends; then, boyfriends; then, lovers:
the love we made this
morning indwells even those
clouds, and the sun above them.
Kyakuchuu
These three tanka could each
These three tanka could each stand alone, yet they fuse seamlessly together into a garden of physical, spiritual and earthly delights.
Nature is the thread that weaves sensuality and magnificence together. For instance, the cherry blossoms give a foretaste of a similar softness of the socks and their nuanced seduction; warm rain, a thin veil of moisture, awakens something primal in the observer in the second poem; the clouds and sun are vessels for the fully-blossomed love that drenches all creation in the third, forming a resplendent finale to the collection.
An alluring trio.
Thank you very much for that
Thank you very much for that comment. Akthugh I have not posted many Tanka sequences, I am always a little nervous that the interlinkage eliminates the stand-alone aspect. But your comment---coming from a Poet of your ever rising stature---eliminates the question on this sequence. And for that, I am most grateful.
And I thank you for understanding, as you always do, the effect that the poem is trying to create or present. And this is not just academic understanding; it is a nurturer and a sustainer, so that this series of poems can continue to thrive. And, for that, I do not have enough words of gratitude to offer you.
J-Called