The Naked Octopus: Erotic haiku in English with Japanese translations

With this new collection Gabriel Rosenstock returns to the poetic form he has made his own: the haiku.

The Naked Octopus charts the imaginings and adventures of an amorous sea creature who emerges from the ocean to consummate his long­standing love for a human woman. As with Hokusai’s famous woodcut The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife, nothing is left to the imagi­nation and Rosenstock represents this fantastical union with an intensity and vividness unparalleled in English-language haiku writing today.

Provocative, humorous, and profoundly sensual, these gem-like poems plunge us into the long tradition of Japanese tentacle erotica, revealing a crystal clear awareness of both the natural world and human sexuality.