The Language Inside (63 page)
Read The Language Inside Online
Authors: Holly Thompson
and then I’m being kissed
and I’m in his arms
and then I’m being swung
in a circle
then dropped
right on my rear
as he goes off doing cartwheels
and back handsprings
with Lena and Van following
leaping and cartwheeling down the beach
until Van gets sand in his eyes
and cries and spits and screams
and Samnang has to wipe his face
with my scarf
when Van has recovered
Samnang starts walking
Frankenstein-style
dragging one heel
behind him
in damp sand
what are you doing?
Van shouts
with his little hands on his hips
Lena and Van follow
dragging a foot each
making three parallel lines
more or less
of Samnang’s writing
in the sand
when he stops
they stop
and step back to read
39?
Lena says
39?
Van says
and Samnang saunters over
and wraps me tight in his arms
Lena shrugs
and Van loops
from Lena to the waves
arms out, soaring
then he comes careening
and head-butts Samnang
hey!
Samnang and I say
and Samnang grabs for him
and I grab for him
but Van wriggles out of reach, sprints away
and Lena laughs and starts to run with him
and Samnang and I both give chase
down the white beach
alongside the cold frothing surf
half a world away
from my other home
“Homage to My Hips” by Lucille Clifton
“Early in the Morning” by Li Young-Li
“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins
O! Maha Mount Dagrek: Poetry of Cambodian Refugee Experiences,
edited by Samkhann Khoeun
“Litany for a Hidden Apsara” by Anida Yeou Ali
“Enough” by Suzanne Buffam
“Running Away Together” by Maxine Kumin
“The Boundary” by Bei Dao
Books
Cambodian Dance: Celebration of the Gods
by Denise Haywood
First They Killed My Father
by Loung Ung
Look Up for Yes
by Julia Tavalaro
Never Fall Down
by Patricia McCormick
Oh Maha, Mount Dangrek,
edited by Samkhann C. Khoeun
Roots and Wings
by Many Ly
When Broken Glass Floats
by Chanrithy Him
Films
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,
directed by Julian Schnabel
The Flute Player,
directed by Jocelyn Glatzner
The Killing Fields,
directed by Roland Joffé
Monkey Dance,
directed by Julie Mallozzi
Websites
Angkor Dance Troupe:
angkordance.org
Poetry Foundation:
poetryfoundation.org
Poetry 180:
loc.gov/poetry/180/
Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York:
japanesefolkdance.org
For more resources visit Holly Thompson’s website,
hatbooks.com
.
I am deeply grateful to Tim Thou, program director, and Linda Sopheap Sou, board president, of the Angkor Dance Troupe of Lowell, Massachusetts, and to all of the members of this phenomenal troupe, especially Emaly Horn, Virginia Prak, Sophorl Ngin, Peter Veth and Monica Veth for their guidance, patience, inspiration and encouragement during my research. I also wish to thank Sidney Liang, director of the Southeast Asian Resources for Culture and Health (SEARCH) in Lowell; Sonith Peou, director, Metta Health Center in Lowell; Dorcas Grigg-Saito, chief executive officer, Lowell Community Health Center; the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh; Deborah Cook, RN, BSN, OCN, Oncology Patient Education Coordinator for Inova Health System Cancer Services; writers Katrina Grigg-Saito, Avery Fischer Udagawa, Suzanne Kamata and other members of SCBWI Tokyo; Pamela Thompson, my awesome ice-hockey-playing breast-cancer-survivor sister; the late poet and author Julia Tavalaro, who inspired the character of Zena; Ron Becker and Diana Cortes of the Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility; poet Sharon Olds and the Goldwater Writing Project; the NGO Peace Boat for the Tohoku relief and cleanup operations in which I was able to participate following the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011; Julie Mallozzi for her excellent documentary
Monkey Dance
; and Heather Willson and Sovann Phon for my visits to the village of Popeae in Cambodia. I also wish to thank my ever-encouraging agent, Jamie Weiss Chilton of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and my ever-wise and patient editor, Franc ¸oise Bui, and all the other friends, family members, colleagues and strangers who helped this book come together.
Som or-kun. Arigato.
Thank you.
Holly Thompson, a native of Massachusetts, is a longtime resident of Japan. She is the author of the verse novel
Orchards,
winner of the APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature; the novel
Ash;
and the picture book
The Wakame Gatherers
. She is also the editor of
Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories
. Holly teaches creative writing and serves as the regional advisor for the Tokyo chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Visit her at
hatbooks.com
.