Wednesday, April 11, 2018

One Man's Maple Moon: Ecstasy Tanka by Pamela A. Babusci

English Original

what gives me
more ecstasy
a calla lily opening
or your fingers
exploring me?

A Solitary Woman, 2013

Pamela A. Babusci


Chinese Translation (Traditional)

什麼事情會給我
更多的狂喜
盛開的馬蹄蓮
或是你的手指
探索我的深處?

Chinese Translation (Simplified)

什么事情会给我
更多的狂喜
盛开的马蹄莲
或是你的手指
探索我的深处? 


Bio Sketch

Pamela A. Babusci  is an internationally award winning haiku, tanka poet and haiga artist. Some of her awards include: Museum of Haiku Literature Award, International Tanka Splendor Awards, First Place Yellow Moon Competition (Aust) tanka category,  First Place Kokako Tanka Competition,(NZ) First Place Saigyo Tanka Awards (US), Basho Festival Haiku Contests (Japan).  Pamela has illustrated several books, including: Full Moon Tide: The Best of Tanka Splendor Awards, Taboo Haiku, Chasing the Sun, Take Five: Best Contemporary Tanka, and A Thousand Reasons 2009. Pamela was the founder and now is the solo Editor of Moonbathing: a journal of women’s tanka; the first all women’s tanka journal in the US.

3 comments:

  1. In this sensual tanka written in the form of a rhetorical question, a simile is subtly established between the visually stunning and symbolically rich calla lily (which is said to be a good luck charm for wedded bliss) and the speaker. (Like a calla lily "opening," I'm waiting for your fingers to explore me). Pamela's tanka reminds me of the most famous/erotic tanka written by Yosano Akiko


    I press my breasts
    gently parting
    the shroud of mystery
    revealing the flower
    redder than red


    Note: "In many paintings and other works of art throughout history, the calla lily has been depicted with the Virgin Mary or Angel of Annunciation. For this reason, it has been associated with holiness, faith and purity."

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  2. many thx chen-ou for your kind commentary about my tanka & your comparison to Yosano Akiko is indeed an honor!

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  3. interesting haikus. Watch a Haiku for Dante Alighieri at https://youtu.be/HPqfvnqx3Gk
    Read also an interview with Dante (imaginary) in http://stenote.blogspot.com/2017/12/an-interview-with-dante.html

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