struggles with the taste of miso soup until weeks in, its host
discovers adding sweet red pepper makes the meal tolerable,
even mildly sweet, like their grandmother’s homemade curdled
milk and ghee—an acquired taste

a kenyan tongue in japan takes time to roll its way into saying,
おはようございます/ohayō gozaimasu/good morning/niaje,
while its host adjusts and adapts to bowing before an assigned buddy,
tutors, a nearby restaurant’s owner, department store clerks, the driver
slowing down in flowing traffic; adapts to the timely work breaks,
golden-week festivals, trips to shinjuku in central tokyo,
walking along the pacific in kamakura, the silence in the suburbs,
the passive aggressive nature of the japanese and just before summer,
watching hydrangeas bloom

a kenyan tongue in japan learns to politely identify as not
jamaican, south african, nigerian, nor cameroonian in an essay in class,
over lunch at the cafeteria, on its way to the grocery store,
or in line to ride the king of rollercoasters at fuji-q park.
a kenyan tongue in japan fights to hold itself while
african ambassadors highlight safaris as core
to the economy while omitting bien, zuchu, tyla, tems,
njerae, brandy, arya, watendawili…

a kenyan tongue in japan realizes speech fillers like aa, mm, nini,
poa, or lakini are native to its city like: on a matatu, sequentially playing
gospel music, pop, genge and dancehall to match the time of day; the stray
bosco canine breed; forgivable corruption and spicing and grilling mutura.
a kenyan tongue in japan misses home, overplays ‘taya’ in the shower
and at narita airport, on board a flight home to nairobi, it does not feel
too heavy saying さようなら/sayounara/bye/nimeenda home…