why do I feel
so empty tonight?
moonlight streams in
at every window
and you await me
Full Moon Tide : The Best of Tanka Splendor 1990–1999, 2000
Jeanne Emrich
Commentary: Emrich captures the classical trope of a woman waiting for her lover by moonlight without resorting to any flagrantly Oriental motifs. At 4-4-5-5-5 syllables she doesn’t embody either the 5-7-5-7-7 or short-long-short-long-long formats, but what she has written is a very traditional tanka in subject matter and aesthetics. If it were translated into Japanese, it would be entirely acceptable to the ladies and gentlemen of the Heian court. She demonstrates that Japanese aesthetics can be used without Orientalism.
-- excerpted from To the Lighthouse: The Problem of Tanka : Definition and Differentiation by M. Kei
FYI: "Orientalism in literature and media refers to the presentation of Asian and North African cultures through a Western perspective. Orientalism generally emphasizes exoticness and otherness, and often employs tropes of ancient wisdom, sexuality, and mystery to do so..."
ReplyDeleteThe following tanka could be read as a sequel to Jeanne Emrich's:
ReplyDeletebeside me
an illusory chair --
no more nights now
of waiting
and longing for him
Ferris Wheel: 101 Modern and Contemporary Tanka, 2006
Tamiko Ohnishi