Monkey Bars

April 8th

In the Hilton Hotel, NY
I hear the bustling sounds from 6th Ave.
I AM alive...
I woke up to the sensation of being alive.

Taking a shower,
Putting on makeup,
Setting my hair,
The sequence of movements is ever getting sluggish,
More so because of my unfamiliarity with the hotel room.

I had Mari do my hair and apply false eyelashes.
I can barely lift my left arm.
The progress follows wherever I am.
Between conversations I was shocked to realize.

Today I have an appointment with Dr. Mitsumoto at the Colombia University Medical Center.

We traveled up 6th Ave, and on the way to Columbus Circle.
I found it!
Trump Park Building with
Shiny brass handrails and the front stoop with three steps.
I used to live in a small studio apartment.
The doorman remembered me.
With a sense of nostalgia I shook hands with the familiar face.

Mari, Eiko, the filming crew and Maria in a wheelchair got on an A-Train from Columbus Circle and got off at 168 Street to meet Dr. Mitsumoto, Eleanor and Lou Gehrig MDA/ALS Research Center Medical Director.

We arrived at the office of Dr. Mitsumoto.
It looked like any other office.
There was something like monkey bars one would see in a playground of grade school.
I guessed it was one of the diagnostic tools for ALS.

Dr. Mitsumoto's consultation lasted more than an hour and Maria felt she could trust him.

We decided to take a bus for return trip.
We waited and waited and
Finally we saw a bus coming only to find it not in service,
Then bus after bus 5 buses not in service.
We waited anyway.

On a bus in a wheelchair.
The bus ran along the Hudson River
Like a sightseeing bus.
Trees were changing their outfit from winter to spring.
Green sprinkled over white.

That night, some of her former colleagues in New York got together for dinner at a restaurant at Hilton.

At night, I had the massage again.
It's addicting.
Kan-non hands
Massaging the front of my body tonight
Led me into a deep sleep.

I dreamed about playing with monkey bars in a playground of grade school.

poem by Maria Franki

edited and translated by J. Ujiie

©2011