There’s something enthralling in discovering tanka written over a thousand years ago (though through the lens of translation in this case), like entering the lived in room of someone who’s just left to do some chores and will return any minute…

This one is by Izumi Shikibu. Another voice amongst the 36 Immortals of Poetry, another expression of poetic truthfulness, sketched from life. another tanka that writes a subtle history of feminism in Japanese poetry.