Finesse Poem by Raj Arumugam

Those of you who would have your children learn
good manners, politeness and subtlety,
I tell you
for what my twenty years of experience
as a teacher
and 14-year expertise as a parent of two are worth
send your children to these writers
of rejection letters.


Nay, laugh not at me,
for this ancient race of master craftsmen
are the originators and true progenitors
of subtlety and finesse
and our children can learn
restraint, control and refinement
through the words of these wise scribes.
For these truly are endowed with
savoir faire.
The migrant and the illiterate
the migrant who doesn't have a job
and the adult who can't read
have one thing in common:
they need to hide;
they need to hide themselves
from those who shouldn't know.
Both secretive and quiet,
not wanting to be discovered.




(from The Migrant - notes of a newcomer (February 1997- July 1998))