When One Has Lived A Long Time Alone

(after the poem by Galway Kinnell)

on the way to Seoul I missed every connection
but on the way back they melded seamlessly
from one train to the next a mere step from
orange to purple to dark blue in a poem
reading I've got at the same time as
the singer sang it a student
asks "chem-i-ta?" which means funny?
as I laugh at something stupid one
of the boys is doing -some face
pulling or martial arts pose- &
I reply 'yes', it is, and is even
heightened by the way
she asks it as if I'm a bit
'touched' not at all
like a student addressing
a teacher raining it rained
it rains,
an adjectival grey
almost silver.