In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

J O D Y B O L Z Bonsai Two centuries to keep a maple three hands high. The Japanese are patient people. Why not master me, keep me from jungling up the world, beguile me, hold my heart still in one small garden? Another stratagem. Summer kimono with landscape: ten embroidered deer, wisteria and pines. Not a cloud in the lake. No guesthouse. You stop by to see the grounds. Please don’t bother—please— I can’t rake the paths each week and tie the cats over-tending children we don’t have. I make mistakes. Bird songs in our room, a record, aren’t the woods. Not even an aviary. You get dizzy on them anyway— The 1980s ❚ 161 imagining they’re real, the bonsai is a wild tree, tiny dish its island, yard its sea, all your art your life and your love safe. 162 ❚ The 1980s ...

Share