FAME
~For Basho
I know that fame will be within reach
when someone begins to call me
by the name of an exotic tree
or a boll weevil recently unearthed
or perhaps an emotion long thought
extinct but erupting now, around
the world, surprising us all.
But what I wish to call you,
beginning this weekend,
is the sound of something
tearing slowly in half there,
where the forest is darkest
where the wind cannot
penetrate.©2017 Fame, Dennis Patrick Slattery
www. dennispslattery.com
copyright 2017 All Rights Reserved
notes
1. photographic reproduction of Basho from a woodcut from 'One Hundred Aspects of the Moon,' by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1885-1892.
2. For more on Basho’s life visit https://allpoetry.com/Matsuo-Basho
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