Eric Burke
Painted by Strangers
the trees at our altitude
bare from disease
we stand at the overlook
looking
at the forest below
Bohemian Boss
A patchwork of packets,
a chiasmus of salt and pepper
around a center
of sugar,
taped in place
as publicly as his art requires
in the corner of his office.
(cf. Basho's "Clouds Now and Again")
Something to hang up --
some photograph, some painting,
some sufficiently meaningful placeholder
I can pass by, most evenings,
and acknowledge.
(Basho translation by Bernard Lionel Einbond)
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