"Napped half the day; / no one / punished me"
Issa, translated by Robert Hass
foam like dandelion
fluff or silkworm
thread turns in the wake
of a spoon clinking
as coffee coiling
like a dachshund
over blankets blends
into shades of umber—
I sigh and decide
to lie in bed listening
to the faint swells
of wind and traffic
behind the wire mesh
of a half-open window
Kurtis Ebeling is an MFA in Creative Writing and MA in English graduate from Eastern Washington University. His poems have been published with Crab Creek Review, Wild Roof Journal, Pictura Journal, The Dewdrop, Art of Nothing Press, and others.