In Japan

In Japan, Christmas
Is another working day.
My cousin brought back

A santa on a
Crucifix. She’s 5’9:
They are too polite

To stare on the street.
They look at her reflection
In train windows. There’s

Stuff she likes: the rules,
History and samurai,
The trains run on time.

So: tell me about
Manga porn and bukkake.
There’s women-only

Carriages on trains –
So you don’t have to get groped.
Some girls supplement

Their income. The school
Uniforms are so short that
They cover their bums

With their hands when they
Go up stairs. I want to know
If, in the west, we’re

Soft. What of Freud? And
Fun? And parenting techniques?
She says: there’s four times

As many deaths from
Suicide as rta


17/12/05