Summer 2013: Poetry

Lover, Molester, and Maidens (Haibun)

by Margaret Chula

		teacher’s question
		hangs in the drowsy classroom
		a crow answers

The heat and humidity are stifling and we still have two weeks of classes before summer vacation. At least here at Kyoto Seika College, I can open the windows and get some mountain air. These young women are exhausting with their need to be entertained. Today, feeling nostalgic, I begin rambling about my experiences hitchhiking from Spain to England when I was twenty. How I borrowed a Frenchman’s surfboard in Guethary, got wiped out by the waves, and nearly drowned. Doctors stitched up my forehead, which I’d hit on the fin of the surfboard. My students, who think all Americans are wealthy, are shocked to hear that I was so poor my friend had to take out the stitches instead of a doctor. They all listen today – even ask questions – and I have a good time reminiscing.

In the next Beginner English class, I go back to the textbook and set up a role playing exercise for the students: making a telephone date, then meeting at a restaurant. After I explain the vocabulary and structure of the skit, they ask me for some American men’s names, besides Michael (Jackson) and Tom (Cruise).

		on the blackboard
		I make a list of men’s names
		– all former lovers

In the more advanced afternoon class, I usually challenge these young women to discuss controversial subjects, such as feminism. Today I bring up the subject of chikan – men who molest women, most often in crowded places where they are helpless to get away. In an overpopulated country where anonymity is the norm, chikan are common. This proves to be a difficult topic for these nineteen-year-old maidens to talk about. Once I get them started by making up an imaginary tale of my own, they all have a story to tell. Most encounters were subtle – an elbow grazing her breast when jostled on the train or a man mashed up against her from behind. But when the man began rubbing up against her, visibly excited, or when the anonymous hand ventured up under her skirt – when the motive became clear – then it became “uncomfortable.” We talk about the emotions they experienced: surprise, fear, embarrassment, anger. They felt all of these, yet not one woman confronted her molester, even verbally. Culturally, I understand that it’s very hard for them to talk to a man in this situation, but I’m exasperated by their stoic endurance of these despicable acts.

I end the class by saying, “Isn’t it time, ladies, that we speak out and embarrass the men, who are really the ones who should be punished?” Some nod, some hang their heads in yet more embarrassment.

	      the words molester,
	      obscene phone call, pervert
	      left on the blackboard

Poetry Rich, strong, poignant, humorous and inspiring. We’ve caught twenty never-before-published poems by sixteen unique voices.		Prose Seven talented women search for themselves in their bodies, their family, themselves.		Artwork Established dynamos and aspiring voices add colorful visions to our third issue.		Young Voices Language leaps off the page in the poetry and prose of five young authors who delight in sensory detail.		Contributors Meet the authors and artists who make this Summer 2013 edition a rich, varied and engaging experience.

LETTER FROM THE EDITORS POETRY         Abandoned Church by Tanya Jarvik         Commencement by Kelly Running         Depoe Bay by Wendy Thompson         Directive by Cristina White         Hawk Moth by Wendy Thompson         How to Recycle Love Letters by Jennifer Dorner         I Swapped a '74 Mustang for This by Jennifer Fulford         Polaroid of My Mother by Cindy Stewart-Rinier         Lover, Molester, and Maidens (Haibun) by Margaret Chula         Savory by Pat Phillips West         Seascape by Marjorie Power         Suspended by Grace Kuhns         The Hand-Off by Pattie Palmer-Baker         The Ride by Linda Ferguson         The Ticking Shirt by Tricia Knoll         Three Facts about Sperm by Ursula Whitcher         Three True Stories by Penelope Scambly Schott         Today at the Library by Pat Phillips West         Trapped Birds by Grace Kuhns         You, who will be alive and reading after I'm gone by Penelope Scambly Schott PROSE         After the World Ends by Kait Heacock         Something Permanent by Ashley-Renée Cribbins         Your Hand at Your Throat by Karen Guth         Black Sharpie by Anne Gudger         Diagnosis by Helen Sinoradzki         For He's a Jolly Good Fellow by Laura Stanfill         Breathing Underwater by Valerie Wagner ART         Unity by Anne John         Rearguard by Anne John         Speculation by Anne John         Wire by Jocelyn White         Taitian Trio by Nani Chesire         Catch Your Breath by Nani Chesire YOUNG VOICES         We Will Read to You by Rebecca Cleveland-Stout         Strawberry Party by Natalie Lerner         A Young Night by Clara Beaumont         Beach Wanderer by Isabella Waldron         Light and Dark by Colette Au CONTRIBUTORS