Genji Monogatari: A Branch of Plum

He looked in his rear-
view mirror to make
a lane change, only to
see both past & future
interrupt the present.
It was a concept he
recognized—what is
behind recedes from
what is in front; a
constitutive haunting of
the community of the
living—even though
the smilies were on &
American popular music
was in remission. What
he did not recognize
were the random phrases
on some of the walls he
passed. Those were
new, the exterior
manifestations of the
current hip element in
interior design. "They
gave me $5 for a $100
textbook." "Lingerie is
just another wallpaper."
"Can the dead travel
back in time?" His walls
were mainly unadorned:
too much traveling to
bring much with him. A
single painting of a branch
of plum she'd rendered
with great represent-
ational clarity. The
poem of appreciation
he had added later.