to Robert Hass and in memory of Elliot Gilbert


Slow dulcimer, gavotte and bow, in autumn,
Bashõ and his friends go out to view the moon;
In summer, gasoline rainbow in the gutter,

The secret courtesy that courses like ichor
Through the old form of the rude, full-scale joke,
Impossible to tell in writing. 'Bashõ'

He named himself, 'Banana Tree': banana
After the plant some grateful students gave him,
Maybe in appreciation of his guidance

Threading a long night through the rules and channels

A piece of green pepper
fell
off the wooden salad bowl:
so what?

spring rain:
browsing under an umbrella
at the picture-book store

old garden—she empties
a hot-water bottle
under the moon

rice reaping—
no smoke rising from
the cremation ground today

fanning out its tail
in the spring breeze,
see—a peacock!

I turn my back
on Buddha and face
the cool moon

in the coolness
gods and Buddhas
dwell as neighbors

wheat sowing—
the mulberry trees
lift bunched branches

entangled with
the scattering cherry blossoms—
the wings of birds!