Dance of Earth and Moon

in their tantric dance
the earth and moon trip the light
of a galaxy
cheek to cheek and face to face
inhaling each other’s breath

© Kim M. Russell, 2016

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My response to Carpe Diem Tanka Splendor #13 Teika’s Fifth Tanka Writing Technique “Lofty Style” (full moon)

In this new episode of Carpe Diem’s Tanka Splendor month, Chèvrefeuille has introduced the fifth Tanka Writing Technique by Teika: Lofty Style – taketakaki tei – a method of achieving grandeur and elevation. He has given us a traditional example, a poem by Fujiwara Yoshitsune (1169-1206) composed on the given theme of “the moon at dawn” in the Shinkokinshū #16:1545:

ana no to o / oshiakegata no / kumonma yori / kamiyo no tsuki / kage zo nokoreru

the coming dawn
pushes open the Gates of Heaven
from the clouds
the moon from the Age of Gods
is an image left behind

The goal of this technique is to bring the tanka to a higher, more spiritual level, in this case bringing ‘love and romance’, one of the main themes of tanka, to the highest spiritual level, maybe even to the (so called) Tantric level, a more spiritual experience in which sexuality is a main factor.