The Language Inside (63 page)

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Authors: Holly Thompson

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and then I’m being kissed

and I’m in his arms

and then I’m being swung

in a circle

then dropped

right on my rear

as he goes off doing cartwheels

and back handsprings

with Lena and Van following

leaping and cartwheeling down the beach

until Van gets sand in his eyes

and cries and spits and screams

and Samnang has to wipe his face

with my scarf

 

when Van has recovered

Samnang starts walking

Frankenstein-style

dragging one heel

behind him

in damp sand

what are you doing?
Van shouts

with his little hands on his hips

Lena and Van follow

dragging a foot each

making three parallel lines

more or less

of Samnang’s writing

in the sand

when he stops

they stop

and step back to read

 

39?
Lena says

39?
Van says

and Samnang saunters over

and wraps me tight in his arms

Lena shrugs

and Van loops

from Lena to the waves

arms out, soaring

then he comes careening

and head-butts Samnang

hey!
Samnang and I say

and Samnang grabs for him

and I grab for him

but Van wriggles out of reach, sprints away

and Lena laughs and starts to run with him

and Samnang and I both give chase

down the white beach

alongside the cold frothing surf

 

half a world away

from my other home

 

Chapter 14

“Homage to My Hips” by Lucille Clifton

“Early in the Morning” by Li Young-Li

“Introduction to Poetry” by Billy Collins

Chapter 19

“Otherwise” by Jane Kenyon

“The Legend” by Garrett Hongo

Chapter 26

“God Says Yes to Me” by Kaylin Haught

“Painting a Room” by Katia Kapovich

Chapter 33

“Mermaid Song” by Kim Addonizio

“Making a Fist” by Naomi Shihab Nye

Chapters 37
and
39

O! Maha Mount Dagrek: Poetry of Cambodian Refugee Experiences,
edited by Samkhann Khoeun

Chapter 39

“Litany for a Hidden Apsara” by Anida Yeou Ali

Chapter 41

“Enough” by Suzanne Buffam

“Running Away Together” by Maxine Kumin

“The Boundary” by Bei Dao

Chapter 44

“Patience” by Kay Ryan

“The Fist” by Derek Walcott

Books

Cambodian Dance: Celebration of the Gods
by Denise Haywood

First They Killed My Father
by Loung Ung

Look Up for Yes
by Julia Tavalaro

Never Fall Down
by Patricia McCormick

Oh Maha, Mount Dangrek,
edited by Samkhann C. Khoeun

Roots and Wings
by Many Ly

When Broken Glass Floats
by Chanrithy Him

Films

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly,
directed by Julian Schnabel

The Flute Player,
directed by Jocelyn Glatzner

The Killing Fields,
directed by Roland Joffé

Monkey Dance,
directed by Julie Mallozzi

Websites

Angkor Dance Troupe:
angkordance.org

Poetry Foundation:
poetryfoundation.org

Poetry 180:
loc.gov/poetry/180/

Poets.org
:
poets.org

Japanese Folk Dance Institute of New York:
japanesefolkdance.org

For more resources visit Holly Thompson’s website,
hatbooks.com
.

I am deeply grateful to Tim Thou, program director, and Linda Sopheap Sou, board president, of the Angkor Dance Troupe of Lowell, Massachusetts, and to all of the members of this phenomenal troupe, especially Emaly Horn, Virginia Prak, Sophorl Ngin, Peter Veth and Monica Veth for their guidance, patience, inspiration and encouragement during my research. I also wish to thank Sidney Liang, director of the Southeast Asian Resources for Culture and Health (SEARCH) in Lowell; Sonith Peou, director, Metta Health Center in Lowell; Dorcas Grigg-Saito, chief executive officer, Lowell Community Health Center; the Royal University of Fine Arts in Phnom Penh; Deborah Cook, RN, BSN, OCN, Oncology Patient Education Coordinator for Inova Health System Cancer Services; writers Katrina Grigg-Saito, Avery Fischer Udagawa, Suzanne Kamata and other members of SCBWI Tokyo; Pamela Thompson, my awesome ice-hockey-playing breast-cancer-survivor sister; the late poet and author Julia Tavalaro, who inspired the character of Zena; Ron Becker and Diana Cortes of the Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital and Nursing Facility; poet Sharon Olds and the Goldwater Writing Project; the NGO Peace Boat for the Tohoku relief and cleanup operations in which I was able to participate following the earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011; Julie Mallozzi for her excellent documentary
Monkey Dance
; and Heather Willson and Sovann Phon for my visits to the village of Popeae in Cambodia. I also wish to thank my ever-encouraging agent, Jamie Weiss Chilton of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, and my ever-wise and patient editor, Franc ¸oise Bui, and all the other friends, family members, colleagues and strangers who helped this book come together.
Som or-kun. Arigato.
Thank you.

 

Holly Thompson, a native of Massachusetts, is a longtime resident of Japan. She is the author of the verse novel
Orchards,
winner of the APALA Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature; the novel
Ash;
and the picture book
The Wakame Gatherers
. She is also the editor of
Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction—An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories
. Holly teaches creative writing and serves as the regional advisor for the Tokyo chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Visit her at
hatbooks.com
.

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