napowrimo # 19

Today's prompt - write about a moment of sudden understanding.


Knowledge Often Arrives Ungraciously


In Japan where we lived
it dishonored neighbors
to lock one's front door.

A neighbor would never knock
but open the door and call
Anata wa koko desu ka?
If receiving no answer,
honored neighbor was free
to remove shoes at the threshold
and wait inside.

My shower room adjoined
the living room. Need I go on?
It was a good warm shower
I enjoyed that day until
I spied a very large spider
on the opposite wall who then
jumped across that safe space
to within inches of my face.

I ran shrieking into my living room
and there sat my landlord
most formally attired,
most formally posed,
in contrast to my nudity, of course.

Without a twitch of eye
he said in his impeccable English,
I wish to invite you and your family
to dinner next week but I see
there is a problem with the plumbing.

                       Wanda McCollar