I'd be overselling this trip if I called it serene.
It hasn't been that. We've seen portions of Tokyo,
A girls' Shinto rite, a good part of Fuji, a steaming
And sulphurous volcano. We've consumed incredible
Foods, but my son and my wife have bickered, as
Have my son and his wife, and her parents.
The grandchildren, now and again, begin screaming,
The dog in this house, a contemptible cur, screams
Like the grandkids and barks like a gun. My son's
Wife's father is one of those people who cannot
Survive when no TV is on. He has one playing when
He is driving. There's traffic outside from dawn
Until dawn, so I sleep rather poorly, and stand
At the margins of simmering conflicts the rest
Of the day. I picture a monk, all alone in the forest,
Bent on obtaining some version of peace: cliched
Japan, clearly not anything like what is roiling me.