​​Shakes hand shakes head
long journey before words out of mouth 
(use hands and eyes to convey meaning 
wave around 
gesture frantically
be emphatic on the tones I know) 

Broken rice broken sounds
understand? no
cocks head, smiles shy
(next time, plan to bring my young, fluent niece) 

Points to map points to self 
attempts new phrase, hangs in air
too loud but repeats 
maybe hearing issues
(realize the stranger has no hearing issues
know he just can’t decipher the foreign blanket
under which the question hides) 

Gives up gives chance to another 
sighs in relief as
stranger switches to language from home
(gestures are no longer necessary)
found someone familiar in foreign city. 

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Barrett Ahn is a senior at Le Lycée Français de Los Angeles. She has been recognized by the National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, TeenInk, The Decameron Project, and more. Her debut novel, Of Swords and Seasons, is available now on Amazon Kindle. When she’s not writing, she’s either reading or eating her favorite Korean dish, sundubu.