Watching Dogwood Blossoms Fall in a Parking Lot Off Route 46 by August Kleinzahler

Watching Dogwood Blossoms Fall in a Parking Lot Off Route 46

Dogwood blossoms drift down at evening

as semis pound past Phoenix Seafood

and the Savarin plant, west to the Turnpike,

Paterson or hills beyond.

The adulterated, pearly light and bleak perfume

of benzene and exhaust

make this solitary tree and the last of its bloom

as stirring just now after another day

at the hospital with Mother and the ashen old ladies

lost to TV reruns flickering overhead

as that shower of peach blossoms Tu Fu watched

fall on the river bank

from the shadows of the Jade Pavilion,

while ghosts and the music

of yellow orioles found out the seam of him

and slowly cut along it.