Do you know those squares crammed
with letters where you have to find
hidden words— across, up, down, diagonally,
in reverse? The first one your eye lights on
supposedly tells of your most scintillating
trait. But I doubt you’ll find (1) second
language speaker (2) foreign born (3) rice-
eater (4) linked to endemic infections
(5) I thought you were the maid or (6)
I hope your family isn’t in the path
of the latest hurricane. In fact,
there are no words over five
letters. You won’t be able to talk
about catastrophe, the feudal
agrarian economy, or who owns
the Spratly Islands. But there are
other words, words waiting
like mines in a field for you
to touch them, and then they implode:
Hinge. Home. Ginger flower. Monsoon.