Sensei in Shizuoka
 
A chorus of onegaishimasu,
from forty-eight mouths, followed
by bows, entreat me to teach.
You inhabit cushion-padded seats.
Wooden, at desks, in plastic-slippered feet.
 
Your laps have Burberry blankets.
Like an old peoples’ home.
But you are young. At school,
in Japan. Some of you sleep;
tired from afterschool cram school.
Here, there are different rules.
 
In English class, we visit the past:
listen to seventies songs,
gap-fill as we go along, moving seats-
a kinaesthetic learning technique.
I shuffle about, too tall, in extremely small
slippers, which shoot off down corridors.
 
In September, there’s earthquake drill.
We fill the sun-fired yard.
But not before removing indoor
slippers. It takes time. We pass a pond.
It’s like a shrine, with carp.
A cockroach scurries past.
 
Finally, it’s mid-afternoon: cleaning time.
A harmonious event which might be
a musical, students happily mop,
and return to class, before a last
aregato gosaimasu:
thank you and a bow.

Alex Corrin-Tachibana

If you have any thoughts on this poem, Alex Corrin-Tachibana  would be pleased to hear them.