The Naked Octopus

With "The Naked Octopus" Irish writer Gabriel Rosenstock returns to the poetic form he has made his own: the haiku. The 73 haiku in this collection chart the imaginings and adventures of an amorous octopus who (the personal pronoun cannot be avoided here) 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.