John Savoie
Waiting for Basho
I would rather wait for Basho than for Godot. The 17th-century haijin delighted in cucumbers and apples that uncannily fit the open hand, brooded with leafless branches and the humblest grasses, dreamed and drifted upon falling petals and tolling bells. Plants have their own sentience, not quite the same as ours, but not entirely alien to us in this world we share, and if we have ears to hear and eyes to see, as Basho so keenly did, the better we know plants, the better we know ourselves.
Artist Statement: Talking & Listening to Plants
After teaching six years in Japan, John Savoie currently teaches great books, Homer to Basho, at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. His poems have appeared in Poetry, Best New Poets, and Poetry in Motion.