First Evening in Kyoto
Up the downsloped steps
of Kiyomisu temple
her father
my son
carries her on his back
bright as her eyes
its seven-tiered tower is orange, blue
glarelighted against the dusk
we buy a luck charm
take a longhandled dipper from
violetsterile glow
sip from the cascade
descend and wander among shopstalls
past paper houses
dark temples
under a dragon roof we sit
in shadows
her mother feeds her
On his back she sleeps
when we walk on.
© Marte Carlock
Marte Carlock‘s poetry has been published in Avalon Literary Review, DASH Literary Journal, Door Is a Jar, Edison Literary Review, Green Prints, Hobart, inscape, Moon City Review, and penumbra.
The Loch Raven Review 