Language Lessons (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

at first you don't notice the barriers to the language
the spikey little fences painted rose and green appear
cheerful from the distance and at the speed

you are traveling
it feels like a holiday on the rickety train
(fresh butter and rolls?)
better wouldn't melt in their mouths

the little houses are so cunning, just your size
and the marigolds made to order
you're just happy there are words at all

that you are still alive to know them
you're so sure of a welcome into fairy land
well, come in, and be welcome then

remove your snow shoes.
lesson one, you stranger in a stranger land:
no one looks at the sky the way you do
try to explain the blue the way you feel it to be
that hue half blended with pearl and mystery
in a clear voice with no clouds

you'll see what is meant
by books that are lent not given
by the heart when it is riven.
you still won't notice the artful smiles
that shred your soul after all those miles

those late nights up studying. under a copper moon;
after so much earnestness...
though you're greeted with boxed candy and orange lilies
great bowls of tea with inordinate sugar

something is amiss; you feel it like this:
excusing yourself from the hostess and host
despite the folkloric shawl you're wrapped in;
turning all the meanings inside out
only to find the same sad insults after all.

mary angela douglas 28 january 2022; 21 march 2023