The Right Answer by Tania Hershman

The Right Answer

Do you know, he asks

as we pass on Old

Landsdowne Road,

what a cherry blossom

is? It’s just Spring.

He is, I assume,

a teacher, leading

a line of small, paired children.

I don’t, I say,

I’m sorry,

and I stand

to let the children

pass. Walking

the few minutes

home, I wonder

what he, this stranger,

wanted. Botany?

Identification

of the tree, or something

less scientific?

I couldn’t help.

But I am new, here,

in this city, and I am glad

he asked.

Tania Hershman