Cherry Blossom Petals and Camera Bags By Sahand Rabbani Freed from the fetters of a mossy dam, Springtime current bleeds over rocks To urge a temperate snow of cherry blossom petals Into a forlorn pouch of black leather, Adorned by a glossy pink polka-dot blanket. Despite the current it stays, pivoting From a black string Like the half-foot fish Anchored against ambitious waves That challenge the woody nets of twigs And their cylindrical aluminum prey: they are Scribbled with white text and columns of Characters, Ornate as the network of fallen branches That swell the stream's surface with soft bumps. Wind joins the orchestra Of the pedestrians' whispering roar, The accelerating motors from the street's hustle, And the persistent hiss of the contiguous stream That runs along the gutter of a philosopher's hilly trail- That endures under the weight of sweet blossoms' stench And the bitter cologne of brewed Asahi barley. A camera's accidental flash leaves the midday light Unrippled. A petal, pale and pink like a Geisha's painted face, Settles on the moist polka-dot blanket that Decorates the black leather of a desolate Camera bag, Astray amid the fallen cherry blossom petals of mid-April. Copyright © 2024 Sahand Rabbani All rights reserved.