By Elizabeth Schultz
After earthquake, tsunami,
radiation scare, it was like
old times in Idaho, me
hanging outside the bar
in the dark with the guys,
cigarettes our only light,
flitting like fireflies.
Speaking Japanese now,
I could talk with them about
traveling less, staying home
more with the kids, and together
we watched the stars overhead,
listening for their stories,
me thinking how my Ohio
grandparents on the farm
explained God gave us night
to tell us it was bedtime, and
the sun to tell us it was time
to wake up, and I remembered,
and went back to dig
in the savage earth.
Published with permission.
Poem from Elizabeth's recently published Anthology "Coming from Japan"
