Because I’m Fluent in Prepositions within Headlines, Especially those with the Words “A Rise in Attacks on Asian Americans”
Shareen K. Murayama
photo credit: Shareen K. Murayama
I used to review with my students and say: (pre) position
as in forefront, headline, omniscient words
making connections to another human being:
Attacks on Asian Americans
Did they notice how “on” showed position?
On the sidewalk, on a morning walk. Could they see
how on it and caring our government was?
How (pre) position shows spatial and temporal
relationships to Asian Americans—in broad daylight,
last night in Oakland, yesterday as in
on-going investigation of “possible” hate crimes.
I used to point out that “in” is also a (pre) position.
Suggesting priority or needing immediate attention.
But I suppose readers emphasize the abstraction: A Rise in Attacks.
Think dough from yeast, what our country’s not short on—
endangerment and damages, bodies, families,
homes; this country’s infected
you can’t help but want to claw at something
cry for protection—
which doesn’t seem to happen, and sometimes
you wake up, discover something sick and white
discharged from your vagina.
I tell my students it helps one’s defense
knowing where you’re situated ahead of time.
You can draw a line between two separate items:
When I read another headline—
I read to find a name I don’t recognize.
I read to see if she is alive.
I read for cues: Would I have seen it coming?
With stone draped in sock
Sock in my face
My face and teeth, broken.
My students would ask, But what good does that do anybody?
Knowing location. Time. Direction. Details.
I imagine filling every row and column
teaching every example until I can’t headline anymore.
And it’s (pages x pages) of prepositions
And I can’t even mouth the connection
between the woman in the news
and the words I need to hear.
Shareen K. Murayama is a Japanese American, Okinawan American poet and educator. She has degrees from OSU-Cascades and the University of Hawai`i at Manoa. She’s a 2021 Best Microfiction winner as well as a poetry reader for The Adroit Journal. She has pieces published or forthcoming in The Margins, MORIA, Juked, Bamboo Ridge, Puerto del Sol, and elsewhere. You can find her on IG & Twitter @ambusypoeming.