Bule

'Bule' means foreigner in Indonesian.

A shell of me is sitting

In the back of an AP U.S. History class

At a High School in Virginia,

 

But the rest of me is gone.

 

I am in Tanjung Lesung

Jumping rope with the kids

From the kampung next door

 

Jellyfish are wrapping themselves

Around my ankles under the crystalline water

In Phuket, and my dad

Yanks me back into the boat.

 

We are washing stray puppies in the

Indian Ocean - the salt brings the fleas

To the surface and we comb them out.

 

I am running my fingertips

Along the mossy walls

In Pura Gunung Kawi,  

My teacher tells us to sit in the grass

And write what we hear.

 

I am picking leeches off my legs

In Sumatra because

It was your idea to go see the rhinos 

In Way Kambas, but

You packed a bag of sugar instead of salt.

 

It is Christmas in Vienna and my sister

Is putting her shoes outside for St. Nick.

I sneak sticks into them while she is sleeping

And tell her Krampus put them there.

 

I am sleeping over at your house again

And we make a deal:

You are not allowed to wake me up

Before 8am just because you are bored.

 

The sun is starting to set on Gili T

But you pass by a bike shop

And we cover the whole island

In two hours.

 

Give me cheap taxis and city smog,

Give me pre-paid pulsa from a kiosk,

Give me friends that eat all the food in my family’s fridge and

Leave me with no hot water to shower.

 

Give me back

The closest thing

I have ever had

To a home

Author's Note

Please be gentle I am so sensitive

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i have been places that don't feel like home...moved a lot...and sometimes had temporary lodging....
and longed for home, someplace consistent, even if there were things that were annoying...i longed to be annoyed.
This journey is quite prolific...we get a sense of these places and your loneliness even when occupied..because home is where the heart is...and your heart didn't feel it belonged.

[Gabby]

My entire being was made from growing up around such simplistic moments like these it was so hard to acclimate to American culture with iPhones and social media. As if any of that mattered

[John the Baptist]

For you to have traveled this much means you come from a military family or your father was a diplomat. Each place visited is captured nicely in a few lines. The last verse is revelatory. Well done.

[luvsick]

i love this, ive never been to any of those places, let alone out of the U.S. but i feel what it's like be there.
thank you