print previewback PATRICIA CLARK
Diptych with Window View & Hiroshige Print
No tree vaulting high that I could see
possessed a perfectly straight trunk.
A geisha follows a trail of paper lanterns.
Yellow leaves had been blown off,
leaving black branches.
Stars in water a match for the sky.
A windless night, and all clear.
Something was coming, the wind a portent.
A red petticoat peaked out from under her coat.
Deer hid and wild turkeys latched onto a roost.
Near the hill’s foot, a shrine and brightly lit restaurants.
Solitary means to turn in
on yourself, a whelk, and no escape.
A cropped lantern, a cropped cherry tree, and still she walks
in dignity, with purpose.
The gusts came from the east,
blowing saplings in half.
Behind her, the Sumida River, a sky of stars,
stars in the river, and beyond, a black hill. 
Diptych with Window View & Hiroshige Print
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Kubota Garden