after a woodblock print by Harunobu
In this print, let’s pretend
the woman is the mother. She steps
from a block of wood,
freed by the artist’s gouge.
The umbrella in her hand tilts
over her son. A hobby horse
lurches beneath his legs
as if to result in arrival.
But distance means nothing
as cherry blossoms scour
the sky. Clouds of camellias rise
from a bamboo screen.
We are privy to glimpse
only a slice of the scene.
Orange & ochre repeat
throughout the print: stripes
on the horse’s robe, a pleat
on the mother’s kimono.
Instead of pleasure pearling
her face, her profile blurs.
Dusk dissolves as she imagines
she can fade away (bent
in obeisance).
But no.
The umbrella protects
from nothing,
The horse arches his neck.
As Earth slants,
the rocking boy knows
he is going nowhere.
Dean Kostos’ eighth collection, Pierced by Night-Colored Threads, was released in September of 2017. His previous collection, This Is Not a Skyscraper, won the Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award, selected by Mark Doty. His poems, personal essays, and reviews have appeared in The Bangalore Review (India), Barrow Street, Boulevard, Chelsea, and others.
