leaning on his cane . . .

leaning on his cane
he looks like a character
out of Bashō . . .
weighed down at end of day
by the weight of his shadow

–for Larry

red lights 11:1, January 2015

Some of you might know that my husband, Larry Chapman Kelly, passed away suddenly a week before Thanksgiving. Others, who know my work, know that Larry was frequently the inspiration for and subject of my tanka, and will surely continue to be so. During the past year of his life, Larry used a sassafras walking stick he had inherited from his father in order to remain mobile, and the sight of him returning home from work each day made me think of my poetic hero Bashō, who traveled on foot to record his world at the end of his life. Like Bashō, Larry often documented the world around him–through pictures rather than poems; the barn featured here is one of many he encountered and photographed on his travels.

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