BASHŌ and JESUS

WHAT WOULD BASHŌ SAY

or Jesus.

I was 22, studying

literature, pre-conscious,

wearing a United States

Army uniform, buck sergeant

at the 85th Evacuation Hospital,

Qui Nhon, Vietnam,

21 January 1968, when

I flew to Mt. Zao

to ski on R&R

took the train North

to Yamagata prefecture

where Bashō wrote

cicadas penetrating stones

worshipping at Yamadera,

me an hour away,

man-child born

9 August 1945

skiing. soaked

in hot springs--

before returning

to Tan San Nhut

30 January 1968,

country in flames,

that close,

I am that close.

Jim Bodeen
11 March 2019