Poetic Musings: Heated Bodies Tanka by Jane Reichhold

almond nails 

pressed into brown skin

a faint perfume 

of two heated bodies

touching light as petals 

A Gift of Tanka, 1990

Jane Reichhold

Commentary: Jane's tanka offers a richly multi-sensory depiction of lovemaking that is both intimate and restrained. Cinematic in effect, it unfolds like a series of close-up shots: “almond nails / pressed into brown skin,” Ls 1&2, immediately foreground touch and sight, while also implying racial difference between the lovers. The tactile pressure of the nails suggests desire tempered by gentleness, setting the tone for a sensuality that is attentive rather than urgent.

As the tanka progresses, scent (“a faint perfume,” L3) and heat (“two heated bodies,” L4) deepen the sensory field, creating a layered experience of physical closeness. The final line, “touching light as petals,” L5, softens the erotic charge through natural imagery, emphasizing delicacy, mutual awareness, and emotional attunement. The comparison to petals reframes touch as something fleeting and tender rather than possessive.

When evaluated within its historical and sociopolitical context—written in the 1980s and published in 1990—this tanka’s portrayal of an interracial relationship is quietly radical. Rather than foregrounding conflict or transgression, it normalizes intimacy across racialized bodies through sensory immediacy and lyric restraint. Its focus on embodied perception allows desire to emerge as both physical and emotional, affirming connection through subtle, evocative detail rather than overt declaration.

FYI: Interracial marriage was de-criminalized throughout the entire United States on June 12, 1967. 

On that day, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously in the landmark case of Loving v. Virginia that state-level bans on interracial marriage (known as "anti-miscegenation" laws) were unconstitutional.