Hi James,
This poem is growing on me as the days pass! I'm getting to appreciate the
rhythm and the dry wit it shows time and time again.
I wonder of the "some Japanese ladies" could be a specific number of ladies
(3,4,5 or?). It sounds more specific, adds a genuineness to it all for me...
And why would their fans flap harder? I'm guessing it must be surprise...
but it could be other things... is there a kind of Japanese convention of
different fan flaps for expressing different feelings?
But I like the feeling I get from the poem... a kind of settling in feeling,
a kind of pleasure at being inscrutable, and a sense that so little appears
on the surface (even the mountain has mere whiffs!).
Canny,
Bob
>From: James Bell <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Pennine Poetry Works <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: New sub:On The Train To Kumero
>Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2003 09:24:36 +0000
>
>I was down with flu last week so was quiet as far as posting was concerned.
>It semed to take me back and become a little reflective rather than respond
>to the moment which I have been doing. This is a result and recalls an
>incident during my time in Japan about five years ago and which a series of
>poems I recorded for my CD are based on too. So this is a reprise.
>
>ON THE TRAIN TO KUMERO
>
>Settled at last in a window seat
>I watch as Karuizawa slides
>away and the window view becomes
>paddy field and foothills full of gingko
>foliage that clothe the furthest reaches
>of Mount Asama's mighty bulk.
>Today it puffs out stray whifs
>of smoke as continued suggestion that
>greater power sleeps within
>its black volcanic rock.
>
>On the seats alongside us
>some Japanese ladies cannot contain
>their mirth any longer at the sight
>of a gaijin with a beard
>and wearing a Panama hat
>while travelling on the local train to Kumero;
>a town that does not exist
>in official guides and on tourist maps.
>
>The ladies' fans would flap harder
>if they knew I'd slept last night
>in comfort on futon and tatami.
>The ladies mirthful fans would
>reach a frenzy if they also knew
>I'd made this train journey before,
>a few days ago, when I ate
>two plates of yaki soba at a favoured restaurant
>and bought my Panama hat
>at a men's outfitters in Kumero.
>
>
>
>bw
>James
>
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