Sunday, August 24, 2014

One Man's Maple Moon: Red Dot Tanka by Kala Ramesh

English Original

the red dot
on my forehead
binds me
to a man
who's in his own orbit

Simply Haiku, 5:3,  Autumn 2007


Kala Ramesh


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

我額頭上
的朱砂
將我綑綁
給一位男人
有自己的生活常軌

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

我额头上
的朱砂
将我綑绑
给一位男人
有自己的生活常轨


Bio Sketch

Kala Ramesh has published more than one thousand poems comprising haiku, tanka, haibun, & renku in reputed journals and anthologies in Japan, Europe, UK, Australia, USA and India. Her work can be read in two prestigious publications: Haiku 21: an anthology of contemporary English-language Haiku (Modern Haiku Press, 2012) and Haiku in English - the First Hundred Years (W.W. Norton 2013). She enjoys teaching haiku and allied genres at the Symbiosis International University, Pune.

2 comments:

  1. This is a good example of a one-sentence tanka. Thematically and emotionally speaking, the tanka is divided into two parts contrasted with each other: the sociocultural/collective (the "red dot binds me") vs the individual/individualistic (a "man ... in his orbit")

    This five-phrase, bipartite poem sparks the reader's reflection on marital relationships from a gendered perspective.

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  2. Below is excerpted from the Wikipedia entry, Bindi ("red dot"):

    In addition to the bindi, in India, a vermilion mark in the parting of the hair just above the forehead is worn by married women as commitment to long-life and well-being of their husbands. During all Hindu marriage ceremonies, the groom applies sindoor on the parting in the bride's hair. The bride must wipe off her red bindi once she becomes a widow. This can be seen as symbolic and shows her status in society. Widows can continue to wear the black bindi but with a white sari.

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