A Wide Road to the Thin South
Yes a literary allusion
Resembles a tree
By the side of the road
Chopped down
Then promptly falling
—Oh dear—
Directly across
The same road
So that you’ll now
Never get where you were
Headed by traveling
This way
Follow instead
The birdsong
It’s sound advice
I mean both
Trustworthy and aural
Besides the obvious
One rarely talks of a painter’s ear
I first read Bashō aloud
To my mother
On a drive from somewhere
To somewhere scenically else
The covered-wagon majesty
Of the hills was all that stuck
Uneventful memories
Like the best calligraphy
First are pictures
Then words
Finally they look
A bit like a bunch
Of people pointing
At a huge tree
The one blocking our car
From continuing
Down the road