My Bride Face
Families from far apart met in Sengen Shrine.
I didn’t know the ritual;
reciting words, in heavy gold
kimono, geisha-face and geta.
I wore a wooden wig.
Later, in ivory and tiara, I sang karaoke.
They loved my foreign bride face
and soft brown bob.
They loved our kokusai kekkon.
At home, you’d nightly
embrace a steaming tub.
Gaman, daily perseverance,
your mantra.
I tried to forget our honeymoon––
your persistent pace and summoning,
of Sorrento waiters, with a sumimasen.
I tried to forget how you wanted to leave
early. Missed food. Missed work.
Missed your Mother
tongue.
I tried to forget
you were a chonan, first son,
with familial obligation.
I tried to forget.
Yet finally, we couldn’t deny
the bunka-no- chigai: cultural difference.
Okasan: My Mother-in-law
A triangular bow
greets my feet.
I de-boot, clumsily,
to slipper.
I’ll never truly enter.
It’s day one—you
marvel at my bum: oshiree,
which is okii—big!
Years on, I re-visit.
Wife now, yet, I’m not allowed
your miso soup.
Soup which first
tasted like earth,
but became home.
Instead, breakfast ‘bacon’:
gammon—vast
and foreign.
In my wedding photo
I look like cupid,
you claim.
I’m still unreal.
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