Green tissue paper
and a WWII Kimono
tossed aside
in a room filled with flying dragons
and jigsaw kittens

I can't even begin
to read _Woman Warrior_
without wondering
what I'm buying into

Hello Kitty seems more the fashion
as I pass women every day
huddled and giggling with dyed red hair
speaking in words I can almost catch
with the swing of a hip, flash of an eye,
or jut of a chin

Different but same.
Different but same.
I must find our paths
snaking around these books and essays,
and world economies,
without getting lost in all the exotic foliage.