XIII. Return to Suzhou: Master of the Nets

It was meant to conjure the life of a fisherman—
solitude simplicity and peace—
hence the name—Master of the Nets Garden.

Not the real life, of course, but what a nobleman
(who else would bankroll such quiet grace?)
imagines when he thinks life of a fisherman:  

the sea in miniature, harnessed, halcyon 
abundant fish (giant koi, not bass). 
It’s a stand-in wilderness, a Chinese garden—

each tree a forest, each rock a mountain—
for those obliged to keep close to the house.
There are even breaking waves: our would-be fisherman 

could watch, from covered walkways, a procession
of ripples launched across his fishpond’s surface
by pelting raindrops; his master gardener

dispensed perfection even in the rain. 
I visit in a downpour—paradise—
while, out on open sea, a master fisherman,
expanse itself his garden, plies his nets.

Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline Osherow. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on December 27, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast 

  

“This poem comes from a series of sixteen villanelles about China, where I found the integration of poetry into everyday life exhilarating and astonishing. I’ve written many long poems about place, but could hardly write such a poem about a country whose greatest poets achieved so much in so few words. My hope is that the villanelle’s enforced repetitions and refrains might achieve some partial echo of the extraordinary resonance that—even in translation—distinguishes great Chinese poems. This villanelle’s inspiration—the Master of the Nets Garden, in Suzhou—was, for me, among China’s most memorable spots.”
—Jacqueline Osherow