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Following Bashō’s Narrow Walk Into the Interior

 Poems

Following Bashō’s Narrow Walk Into the Interior

Take a moment to
Remember the poet who
Passed here long ago

Much was made of it
   So much that it disappeared
      This is all that’s left

Not saying goodbye
   An ineluctable truth
      Not moving moves me

No one can stop it
   The world eases out a cloud
      Now everyone believes me

I follow ant muse
   As it moves across the page
      Into this poem

Can it now be told?
   Perfect day. Wind dividing
      Summer from autumn

Memory made real
   Embracing last rays of sun
      Something you once said

Sun opens its eye
   Day radiates elongates
      This is all I know

Unripe persimmons
   Wafting in the cooling breeze
      I sit and I watch

Persimmons falling
   My old body follows the
      Good old daily grind

Sweat drops on journal
   It’s a long trek this fall day
      No time to read or write

Up among mountains
   Fall fog dampens, colors fade
      The road never ends

Zen garden selfie
   My eyes can’t bear to focus
      Brown leaf on gray stone

There is Emptiness
   & then there is Emptiness
      Surrounding itself

White water-filled spheres
   Floating in a rock garden
      Ah! Whose dream is this?

Painting turns into
   River turns into clouds that
      Turn into painting

Backward just in time
   Forward into the unknown
      Chrysanthemum leaf

Look quickly before
   Someone comes by and says stop
      Then write it all down

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