Things I Never Expected
–1 Virginia
Finding
a good facial razor in America
was
very difficult. I could easily find strips,
the
thing you place the sheet on your skin
and
pull it quickly at once, but I had never
used
it before and it sounded way too rough
to
me— moreover, I have a mole beneath
my
nose, and I thought the stripping would
hurt
it, or it could make it worse, I mean,
bigger,
and of course I did not want it to be.
So
I ordered a razor from Japan, the one
with
the shell mark, the one I always liked.
I
did spend the absurdly high postage
that
was more than the price for the razor.
The
pharmacy enclosed a piece of bandage
as
a bonus, or a pity—but when I went out
after
shaving my face, I felt my suave face
so
bare and reshaped, that I walked faster
than
usual, like a bashful girl wearing
an
airy skirt for the first time in spring.
Ayako.M
---
Things I Never Expected
–2 Tokyo
Back
in Tokyo and standing in the west side
of
Shinjuku, I am waiting for the walk signal
to
change— and when I see some business
men
standing on the other side of the road,
I
burst into tears— you may wonder why, but
there
was no one across the road in Roanoke
mostly,
and sidewalks suddenly disappear
as
if to say Don’t walk, drive, so when
I pushed
the
button and stopped groaning cars, I let myself
walk
in haste, just like when I speak in English
fast,
tongue-tied, but look—now the light turns
blue
and I stride the crosswalk, my dauntless
footsteps
clacking, like saying aloud A I U E O.
Ayako.M
*A I U E O is Japanese vowels; it's NOT typo of Eng. AEIOU.
