The Language Inside (24 page)

I peel off my jacket

grab the poem I copied

and read aloud—Jane Kenyon’s

“Otherwise” which I’d found

and shared with my mother

who hung it on the refrigerator

declaring

               
I like this Jane woman—

               
good attitude!

because my mom knows

that this Jane woman died of cancer

when I first read it on the computer

I liked the little everyday moments

the poet described and seemed to savor

so I now suggest to Zena that we do the same

               make an otherwise poem

               of simple moments that we savor

but Zena doesn’t look up

finally Zena spells

d-i-d t-h-a-t

you did that already?
I ask

and she looks up

what do you mean?
I say

with the guy before me?

she looks up again

oh
I say

sitting there stunned

the room feeling hotter and hotter

I take off my sweater, unwind my scarf

what should we do then?
I say

and I swear she tries to drill holes

in my eyeballs with her glare

do you have a poem in your head?
I ask

are you ready to write?

but Zena doesn’t look up

so I think about other poems I read that week

even though my migraine

seems to have blasted my fragments

of poem memory apart

finally I recall one by Garrett Hongo

whose Japanese last name caught my eye

one that told a story of a man, killed

as he put his laundry in his car

so I tell Zena that I like how that poem

tells a story of an actual incident

then reflects on it

and maybe we can do that

Zena scowls

spells
n-o p-o-e-m?

I bow, apologize

she spells
g-e-t i-t

I try to argue

that we don’t have much time

that I can remember some lines

that I can pull it up on my phone

that I can bring a copy next week

but her eyes are piercing cold

so I go to one of the nurses’ stations

ask if they would do me a favor

               go to the poetry website and

               please please please

               print out a copy of that poem

               “The Legend”

they do and I go back to Zena

and read and show the poem to her

I read “The Legend” again and then I wing it

sharing my reaction about

the language the dying man spoke

that no one could understand

and explaining the weaver girl

mentioned at the end

and how she wants to meet the cowherd

on the other side of the heavenly river

which is part of Tanabata

the summer star festival

which we celebrate each year

by hanging paper wishes on bamboo

but still Zena glares

so I suggest thinking of incidents

we can write about and react to

ideas?
I ask

she doesn’t look up

I brainstorm out loud

               about a time I saw a man offer guidance

               to a blind man at a train station

               then walked him straight into a pillar

               about a time I found a photo album

               in tsunami sludge and Madoka’s grandfather

               took me to return it to the owner

               who gave me a salted plum

               about a time I watched a man surfing

               with his dog

and finally Zena stops glaring

and her face twitches

into a smile

I tell her the dog had great balance

and barked for more

I suggest we each

think up incident poems

for the next time we meet

I don’t say
next week

because, with the surgery

I doubt that I’ll

make it next week

she spells

d-o-n-t b l-a-t-e

I rush out and find Sam

as he’s leaving room 427

you’re late
he says

Lok Ta Leap was asking

so I stick my head in

say hello with my hands together

in
sompeas
like Sam does

kind of like we do in Japan

               after tossing a coin into an offering box

               or before we eat a meal

but I can’t remember the words

so I just smile

then we walk down the corridors

and out the doors into cold evening

what are the words again?

that greeting?

chum reap sour
he says

and I say it over and over

               
chum reap sour

               
chum reap sour

               
chum reap sour

and Sam looks at me

amused

I can give you a ride
Sam says

he explains he has Chris’s car

every Wednesday from now on

can take it to school

if he keeps up his grades

which isn’t so easy for me
he says

I’m okay discussing

but not writing or analyzing

or comparing and contrasting

I’m better with action

gymnastics

dance