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    A Season for Everyone: TANKA Poetry
    A Season for Everyone: TANKA Poetry
    A Season for Everyone: TANKA Poetry
    Ebook144 pages32 minutes

    A Season for Everyone: TANKA Poetry

    By Fabrizio Frosini

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    About this ebook

    In AD 905, the standard poetic diction for the "perfect waka" was established, with the rule of 31 sound units in the pattern 5–7–5–7–7. Since then, although tanka poetry has evolved over the centuries, its form hasn’t changed.
    This collection of tanka by Fabrizio Frosini, although written in English, possess all the charm of the ancient Japanese waka poetry: in them you can savor the aesthetic principles of 'sabi' (the melancholic sense of beauty), or enjoy the feeling of 'yūgen' (mysterious depth), while the pathos of things ('mono no aware') encircles you, offering your thoughts depth of feeling ('ushin') and awareness of time and space. But let the poems speak for themselves...
    Enjoy the reading

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFabrizio Frosini
    Release dateDec 18, 2019
    ISBN9780463829219
    A Season for Everyone: TANKA Poetry
    Author

    Fabrizio Frosini

    Author and Publisher — Born in Tuscany, Italy, and currently living close to Florence and Vinci, Leonardo's hometown. Doctor in Medicine, specialized in Neurosurgery, with an ancient passion for Poetry, he is the Author of over 2,000 poems published in 20 personal books. Frosini writes in Italian, his native language, and English. He is the founder of the International Association "Poets Unite Worldwide," with which he has published over 50 Anthologies. Among his own books: «The Chinese Gardens - English Poems», «Prelude to the Night», «Anita Quiclotzl & Her Souls - Anita Quiclotzl e le Sue Anime» (Bilingual Ed.) [for the others, see below].~*~Books published as sole Author:(*BE*: Bilingual Editions, English–Italian ; All books have PAPERBACK and EBOOK Editions)– «The Chinese Gardens – English Poems» – English Ed. – (published also in Italian Ed.:– «I Giardini Cinesi» – Edizione Italiana);– «KARUMI – Haiku & Tanka» – Italian Ed.;– «Allo Specchio di Me Stesso» ('In the Mirror of Myself') – Italian Ed.;– «Il Vento e il Fiume» ('The Wind and the River') – Italian Ed.;– «A Chisciotte» ('To Quixote') – Italian Ed.;– «Il Puro, l'Impuro – Kosher/Treyf» ('The pure, the Impure – Kosher / Treyf') – Italian Ed.;– «Frammenti di Memoria – Carmina et Fragmenta» ('Fragments of Memories') – Italian Ed.;– «La Città dei Vivi e dei Morti» ('The City of the Living and the Dead') – Italian Ed.;– «Nella luce confusa del crepuscolo» ('In the fuzzy light of the Twilight') – Italian Ed.;– «Limes —O La Chiave Dei Sogni» ('The Key to Dreams') – Italian Ed.;– «Echi e Rompicapi» ('Puzzles & Echoes') – Italian Ed.;– «Ballate e Altre Cadenze» ('Ballads and Other Cadences') – Italian Ed.;– «Selected Poems – Επιλεγμένα Ποιήματα – Poesie Scelte» – Greek–English–Italian (Αγγλικά, Ελληνικά, Ιταλικά – Greek translation by Dimitrios Galanis);– «Prelude to the Night – English Poems» – English Ed. (published also in Italian Ed.:– «Preludio alla Notte» – Edizione Italiana);– «A Season for Everyone – Tanka Poetry» – English Ed.;– «Evanescence of the Floating World – Haiku» – English Ed.;– «From the Book of Limbo – Dal Libro del Limbo» – *BE*;– «Anita Quiclotzl & Her Souls – Anita Quiclotzl e le Sue Anime» – *BE*.~*~Forthcoming publications:– «Mirror Games — A Tale» – English Edition (also in Italian Ed.:– «Giochi di Specchi — Un Racconto»);– «Il Sentiero della Luna» ('The Moon's Path') – Italian Edition.~*~Anthologies published by Fabrizio Frosini with "Poets Unite Worldwide"(*BE*: Bilingual Editions, English-Italian ; All books both in PAPERBACK and EBOOK)1. Poetry Collections:– 'At The Crossing Of Seven Winds' – English Ed.;– 'Nine Tales Of Creation' – English Ed.;– 'Scattering Dreams & Tales' – English Ed.;– 'We Are The Words – Siamo Parole' – *BE*;– 'Whispers to the World – Sussurri al Mondo" – *BE*;– 'How to write Poetry, A Handbook – Come scrivere Poesie, Manuale'– *BE*;– 'Poetry Against Terror'– English Ed.;– 'Poets Against Inequality'– English Ed.;– 'By Land & By Seas – Poetry for the Refugees' – English Ed.;– 'Voices without veils' – English Ed.;– 'Singing Together – Poems for Christmas' – English Ed.;– 'We All Are Persons – Why Gender Discrimination?' – English Ed.;– 'A Note, a Word, a Brush – Ode to the Arts' – English Ed.;– 'Seasons of the Fleeting World – Writing Haiku' – English Ed.;– 'Our Chains, Our Dreams' [Part One] – English Ed.;– 'Our Chains, Our Dreams' [Part Two] – English Ed.;– 'Our Chains, Our Dreams' [Part Three] – English Ed.;– 'Our Only World – Poetry for Planet Earth' – English Ed.;– 'Time to show up – Poetry for Democracy' – English Ed.;– 'Let's Laugh Together – Poems for Children' – English Ed.;– 'Moments of Lightness – Haiku & Tanka' – English Ed.;– 'United We Stand – Poets Against Terror' – English Ed.;– 'When Love is Bitter' – English Ed.;– 'From an Old Path – Contemporary European Poetry' – English Ed.;– 'Tunes from the Indian Subcontinent – Contemporary Poetry' – English Ed.;– 'Whispering to the Heart – Contemporary African Poetry' – English Ed.;– 'Hues of the World – Contemporary Poetry' – English Ed.;– 'The Sounds of America – Contemporary American Poetry' – English Ed.;– 'Fifty-six Female Voices of Contemporary Poetry' – English Ed.;– 'Homo Homini Lupus: Why To kill a Mockingbird?' – English Ed.;– 'Through Time, Through Space' – English Ed.;– 'Spring Songs' – English Ed.;– 'Summer Arias' – English Ed.;– 'Autumn Lullabies' – English Ed.;– 'Winter Melodies' – English Ed.;– 'The Four Seasons Poetry Concerto' – English Ed.;– 'The Feminine Heart of Poetry' – English Ed.;– 'Geography & Music of Poetry' – English Ed.;– 'Space of the Mind' – English Ed.;– 'From the Past to the Future' – English Ed.;– 'Abstract Life, Abstract Love' – English Ed.;– 'Born on a Full Moon — Senryū' – English Ed.;– 'About Abel & Cain —or The Best & Worst of Human Society' – English Ed.;– 'Poems from a Land of Wonders' – English Ed.;– 'One Step At A Time' – English Ed.;– 'About Love' – English Ed.;– 'The Moon & The Humans' – English Ed.;– 'Glimmers of Light–Guizzi di Luce' – T. Billsborough & F. Frosini – *BE*;– 'The Soprano of Sunlight–Luce di Soprano' – Billsborough, Frosini – *BE*;– 'The Double Door' by Daniel J. Brick & Fabrizio Frosini – English Ed.;2. Other Books (Ebook & Paperback Editions):– 'Essays on the World of Humans' – D.J. Brick & F. Frosini – English Edition.~*~Forthcoming publications:– 'Planet Earth in Danger — Poems' – English Edition;– 'Poetic Fantasies' – English Edition;– 'Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? — The wave of global protest' – English Edition;– 'Short Tales Extravaganza' – English Edition.~*~Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/poetsuniteworldwide/Website address:https://poetsuniteworldwide.org/Blog:https://poetsuniteworldwide.wordpress.com/Twitter username:@fabriziofrosini

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      Book preview

      A Season for Everyone - Fabrizio Frosini

      Tanka poetry was born in Japan more than 1300 years ago, as a form of 'waka' —the term meaning Japanese poem(s). The waka originally comprised a number of different forms, most notably 'tanka' (short poems), and 'chōka' (long poems). In the ninth and tenth centuries, with the compilation of the first waka imperial anthology in the early Heian period (the Kokin Wakashū, AD 905), the short poem became the dominant form and the term 'waka' became its standard name, while 'tanka', the proper word, fell out of use —until Masaoka Shiki revived the term in 1898.

      Japanese tanka consist of five units written in one line, usually with a pattern of 5-7-5-7-7 sounds. The group of the first three is called kami-no-ku (upper phrase), while the second is called shimo-no-ku (lower phrase). A 'turn', or pivotal image, connects the two parts of the poem, marking the transition from examining an image/ idea/ situation to examining a personal response. In English, the tanka form is usually rendered in 5 lines of 31 (or fewer) syllables in total, following a "short / long / short / long / long" pattern.

      This collection consists of 196 Tanka, all originally written in English. About one third (60) of them can be labeled as seasonal (meaning that a month/season is plainly expressed, or they have a 'kigo', season word), while 136 are seasonless. The first are grouped according to the season of reference: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter. The seasonless tanka are arranged on the basis of five different themes, and offer the readers a narrative in seven parts. Although I have chosen not to assign titles, the five themes are as follows:

      1. a love found, then lost;

      2. psychological introspection —or the mirroring of a soul;

      3. life & death;

      4. we, the humans;

      5. nature, the world and us.

      Enjoy the book!

      (Fabrizio Frosini, Firenze, 2019)

      ~*~

      月のみやうわのそらなるかたみにておもひもいでば心かよはん

      tsuki nomi ya / uwa no sora naru / katami nite

      omoi mo ideba / kokoro kayowan

      the moon, alone,

      taunts me from the heavens with

      memories of you;

      should you feel the same, then

      our hearts would be as one

      Saigyō (1118–1190)

      ~*~

      Tanka

      Seasonal tanka

      Non-seasonal tanka

      ~*~

      春のよの夢のうきはしとだえしてみねにわかるゝよこ雲のそら

      haru no yo no / yume no uki hashi / todaeshite

      mine ni wakaruru / yokogumo no sora

      a spring night’s

      floating bridge of dreams

      is broken —

      split by the peaks,

      long clouds trail across the sky

      Fujiwara no Teika (1162–1241)

      ~*~

      Seasonal tanka

      Tanka related to:

      SPRING

      SUMMER

      AUTUMN

      WINTER

      ~*~

      Note:

      the traditional Japanese calendar, used from the sixth century until 1873, was a luni-solar calendar, whose date indicates both the moon phase and the time of the solar year. In categorizing 'kigo' [season word(s): which, traditionally, symbolize or help identify the season in which the event recorded in the poem happens], each season is then divided into early, middle, and late periods (see the scheme —modified from a table by William J. Higginson, in 'Haiku Seasons', Kodansha International— at the beginning of each season).

      Tanka related to Spring

      Scheme of the Traditional Spring season in tanka (and haiku) poetry:

      Spring: February 4 – May 5

      Early — beginning 4 February

      Mid — beginning 6 March (Spring Equinox 21 March)

      Late — beginning 5 April.

      ~*~

      an afternoon of

      listlessness and ennui—

      walking alone

      in a monotonous

      early spring drizzle

      in this march rain

      a roamer asks for

      a coin—

      aren't we all vagrants

      in this life of ours?

      I crave cherries:

      their red pulp as fragrant as

      your lips...

      let this spring come with your scent,

      tangled to your tangled hair

      ~*~

      sensing your smile,

      after touching the pale

      blue of the sky,

      the rose bud opens up...

      a new spring together

      the april wind

      brings back old memories

      and hopes...

      but no joy in the muffled

      ticking of the clock

      her sleek hair fully

      matching the silk tailleur — that

      spring night in Paris

      forty-plus years ago, still

      in

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