The new Write Out Loud Poem of the Week is 'She wants to feel 日本 (Japan)'  by Randall Eckstein, who has just joined Write Out Loud, and is a teacher in China. He explains the poem thus:  “In my youth, we had a very long succession of Japanese exchange students living in our home. They taught me a lot about Japanese culture and customs (and language). I wrote this in my early 20s, and then went on to become a teacher, hoping to teach in Japan. Fate, however, sent me to China where I have been living and teaching for the past 13 years.” He told Write Out Loud more about himself in our quick Q&A:

 

What got you into writing poetry?

I got into writing poetry in eighth grade.  We did a unit on creative writing, and our task was to create a "magazine”. Something like eight pages long with unique material on each page. I wrote poems and a short story. When I graduated high school, I looked back at that little magazine, and I thought, ‘You know, I really liked writing that.  I loved that assignment.’ So I wrote down two or three poems, and showed them to my friend who was floored by them. I started writing all the time.

 

How long have you been writing?

I continued writing from then (around 1997) to about 2009. I only recently started writing again. I've missed the cathartic release of writing.

 

Do you go to any open-mic nights?

I'm afraid I don't go to any open-mic nights for the simple reason that I'm an English teacher living in China. I desperately want to join one, but they aren't really the item du jour.

 

What’s your favourite poet/poem?

My favourite poet? That's tough.  It's a contest between Emily Dickinson, and Robert Frost.  I absolutely adore the earthy, hearty feeling of Frost, and Dickinson just got it. 

 

You're cast away on a desert island. What's your luxury?

If I were marooned on a deserted island, I could survive as long as I had a good book.  Especially anything by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. They are amazing together.

 

 

She wants to feel 日本 (Japan)

by Randall Eckstein 

 

Hair black as midnight,
Kimono sleeves whispering of plum;
Haiku she breathes to me
Beneath the yellow moon.

She says I need to see Tokyo,
And Kyoto in the rain.
I say, "I’ll go if you’re there—"
I’ll say anything.

She draws pictures of Mount Fuji
In charcoal, and puts them
All over the house,
Knowing I’ll see them

And remember the color of the mist,
And the smell of incense
When I sat on her tatami mat
And drank her tea.

I gave her a bonsai tree;
Now I hear crickets in the house
And I know she brought them in;
She wants to feel Japan.

She planted a Cherry tree in the garden,
And sits in a lawn chair,
Staring at the ground,
Measuring the time until

She can smell the blossoms.
I know she longs for home,
For Matsuhashi temple,
For the bells and the Buddha,

For her mother and grandmother
And siblings by the barrel
Living together, bathing as one,
Sharing so much space.

She tells me about Kabuki
And her favorite Aragoto character;
How he is so witty, and stomps on the stage
Making the lights vibrate.

Sometimes she puts on her makeup
And dances around the room.
But when she says, “I love you,”
I know she wants to feel Japan.