Iki Masho ( Let's go)

Poem to a Japanese business student
Janet Braithwaite, UK

Can't you
just once
or twice
break out
of your shyness,
knock your schedule
sideways,
let go
of the curtain
of your caution,
shielding
you from
these imagined,
self-inflicted
dangers
lurking
in the dark streets
of the city
- curtains
are so
insubstantial
just swish them.
Pluck up
courage
- Japanese is
rich in rudeness,
using
grammar
to be cutting
- structured insults!
English
just has
crude expletives!

Make your choice in
either
language
then
abruptly tell
your bloody boss
to go to hell,
get stuffed,
or some
short Japanese
equivalent
And
at least
just for
one long evening
let your hair down,
and come
with me
and hit the town,
let pleasure rip
and drink
and dance
till the music
ceases softly,
dying cadence
falling
gently,
darkness
fading,
homeward
speeding
with the dawn.

Acknowledgements

John Morgan

The writer of this would like to thank
the manager of Barcley's Bank.
the BBC and British Rail,
Tesco's and the Royal Mail,
his editor, of (course) and several friends,
his wife( who gracefully pretends
his work is worth the time he spends)
the cleaner ( who comes in twice a week),
and most of all that nameless Greek ,
Phoenician or Egyptian scribe,
who scorned the customs of his tribe,
and left all writers in his debt
by thinking up the Alphabet

Dedication

To my colleagues, without whose criticism and help this book would have been far ahead of its time