Asian With A German Accent Poem by Bryan Corbett

had a very unsettling evening last night
the day started out normally enough
finished work, punched the clock,
went down to the corner bar for a few beers
then on the walk home, to my own surprise,
I stepped into the doorway of my favorite sushi joint.
and it wasn't even Friday night yet.
the little bell hanging from the door handle
rang as I opened the door and entered to
'ee-ra-shy-ma-say'
from the two sushi chefs behind the counter

my usual chef, from Friday nights,
wasn't working tonight
so, I just plopped down at the sushi bar
in front of a different chef.
he was clearly Asian
as you might expect
he was very friendly
as you might expect
smiled immediately, in fact

but when he spoke
it wasn't in flawless Japanese
as you might expect
but it was in a broken English
as you might expect
but the voice was thick
with a heavy German accent
as I - clearly - never expected
and my mind could just not
grasp what was happening to it
so I left
quickly

I'll try again Friday
or maybe the next Friday
after that
major mind-melt