Wykin Community Park

by J. Summerisle Wilson

​

I speak Japanese

while they spit

at us -

 

            iya, chigau yo

 

                        a room full of dolls

                        watches as our hands

                        come apart, glittered

                        in sweat & guilty

                        silence.

 

They hide from their mothers

here, immaculately dressed

& dirty mouthed.

 

            Appearances are easy

            when nobody cares

            what's inside.

 

kagayaki to kagayaki

 

                  (  I can't

            look you in the eye  )

 

Approximations of babies

observe. They spit

white foam

from their mouths

            which you swallow

      not wanting to

look weak.

 

            They mean to

                 hurt us

            so I weird them out.

 

            Glass eyes linger

               on the gaijin.

 

            We possess ourselves

              in the spirit

            of their hate

 

   like ghosts,

or girls

  from comic

books  –

 

            watashitachi ga

                kireidattara ioni

 

(why do you always look down?)

 

Their saliva darkens

in your hair.