Purely Academic by Clara B. Jones

Purely Academic

“It's acceptable to be ignorant but not acceptable to make a mistake.” Japanese Proverb

1. I planned on nursing.

“Follow Titchener!”, you said.

“Join the alliance

of arts, science, and letters.”

I started the path you cleared.

2. It is difficult

to sound sincerely grateful

for gratis gifts

of insight and instruction.

A formal hug upon sight

confirmed the shape of function.

3. I wanted to please

to study Primitive Art

to mimic the Wasps

those sophisticated girls

drinking wine from Steuben glass.

Your Greek Bronze Coins honored civilization's relics.

4. Ours was a Wabi Sabi relationship

impermanent, shadowy, flawed.

I tried to set a price on it

like a feminine Japanese portrait

never judging it's value.

You taught me to write

in the academic form

of Aichi's model.

Following your way

the long path was shorter

because of culture.

Koshima monkeys

washing grainy potatoes

risk-takers taking the lead.

High Priest's Sand Bringing

collected from monkeys' hands.

5. Overtly brazen

marginally intimate

independent mien.

“A notably large volume,

we'll weed out each mistake.”

If Jasper had lived

would these games have driven him home?

Would he have succumbed to your covert malady?

6. You disrespected

a scholar by your appropriation.

Stored in your cases

my beautiful specimens

name never tagged.

Two times by great men

princes of fieldwork

collections preserved.

Was it theft or convention?

Did you think I'd not notice?

Was it blind reflex?

Were I your son

would you have grieved

a reputation harmed?

It's only tough luck

laws unbroken

rituals at work.

7. Your wife at my door,

long blonde hair

short blue dress

seeking my husband

l a female bee-eater

forgoing the helper role

a Kenyan matriarch

whose son's wife cooks.

She left, you imploded

embracing necessity like a woman.

8. You say you are great

honored for publications

destined to endure

but is this legacy sufficient

to outweigh your losses?

9. The Elephant House

where you kissed her playfully

sheltered dying breeds.

10. No hay problema.

I won't hold it against you.

What you share with them

matters not at all.

In life as in statistics

difference is everything

and a genome is pathways removed

from the face that harbors it.

Were I young again,

your reputation would matter naught.

11. Impeccable restraint

in the manner of Empire.

Attention to detail

in the manner of homeland.

A lifetime following Hakone T

halting only to taste the snows of Kanagawa

to touch the pine trees of Aichi.