by Robert E. Wood

Edo: the Seasons
After the Printmakers

Yoshiwara
cherry blossoms
drift in the wind.

        z

A sudden rain 
sends travelers
to the teahouse.

        z

Red maple leaves
on pilgrimage 
wander dark streams.

        z

Under fresh snow
the mountain hut
awaits new fires.



Li Po Admiring the Waterfall at Lo-Shan
Hokusai

He would ascend the waterfall
like a carp if his acolytes released him.

We see no beginning or end
to this column of water that might

hold up the sky.  Li Po could be 
an arrow fitted to the bowed pine 

over his head.  Beneath his feet
we may suppose the slant slope

treacherous.  The precipice
allows his contemplation.

He waits for night, the river,
the long fall into the moon.

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