AUNT SHEILA IN TOKYO
Most unladylike,
she sits on the floor.
legs crossed,
nibbles on noodles
and what she later discovers
is seaweed.
Funny how it doesn’t seem to matter
that she eats the inedible
and it tastes fine.
What a country:
the colored lanterns and the rice fields,
geisha houses, kimonos,
communal baths and speeding trains,
and even the occasional plaque
remembering Hiroshima.
solemn but not angry.
And she likes to think
that if they ever dropped the bomb on her
she’d remember in a healing way.
with an illustration, with a poem,
brought to life
in a Japanese restaurant,
sitting on the floor,
more ladylike as hours wear on.
She respects a people
who can eat seaweed
with no care for where
it comes from.
Header Image by Hideya HAMANO