Bashō (2013)

by David Young [2013]

Each poem is a tiny door,

or better still,

a window.

Light as a snowflake,

slippery as a whale,

poised as a candle,

silent as an orchid.

We’ve walked a long way together.

Somewhere ahead of us

a horse whinnies,

a crow calls,

a beetle’s becoming a firefly.

The horse and the crow are a poem.

The firefly lights our way.

From Plume #22, April 2013. See the poet’s 1986 poem by the same name. See also the author’s website.