After Bashō
by Margaret Dornaus


at home—
hearing the woodpecker
I long for home

I long
for the lizard
as well as the woodpecker

at home
where the wind brings me
other sounds

longing sounds
I hear sometimes at night:
the whippoorwill;

the owl; tree-frogs;
the echoing chambers
of cicadas

hammering
through trees— I long for
more days

more nights
like this day, this night
when we both knew

how to listen
with our hearts to hear
the winged song of a cricket






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