EVIDENCE
in school there are long lectures
about stealing and honesty
and pleas for whoever
took the dragon paperweight
that has been at the school
used in that classroom for twenty years
and which forms a pair with the dragon
in the other sixth-grade classroom
which is not missing
to speak up and come clean
but no one does
some say the dragons keep away
the ghosts of soldiers who died
in the school when it was used
as a hospital during the war
the ghosts that the principal
always tells us we might meet
if we stay too late at school
after everyone’s gone home
and I’m not saying I believe him
but when everyone’s gone home
and you have to return to school
because you forgot something
it’s creepy, quiet, and still
so we all want
that dragon paperweight
returned
everyone has a theory
of who took the dragon and why
but han six is quiet
too quiet, until Yuki
tells the teacher
she saw me take it
she offers a story about how
I thought it was cool
that since learning that this school
was once called Dragon’s Mouth
I wanted that paperweight
and she thinks it’s in my house
and why doesn’t the teacher just go check?
Ōshima-sensei doesn’t
disagree or agree but says
he knows that if I took it
I will certainly return it
the whole class
then seems convinced
that I have done something
with the missing dragon
I’m so glad to get to aikido on Thursday
so glad to see Yamada-sensei
who makes everyone respect each other
who’s strict but fun, and whose way
makes everyone cooperate
at the end of the class
I linger a little
talking and joking
with the assistant teacher
then I ride beside another
orange belt, Manabu
and his sister Nana
as they walk home
then I take my time along
the river, listening for fish
watching them jump
before riding home
that night
I tell Cora
about the dragon paperweight
and how Yuki accused me
and Cora says
don’t worry
Yuki doesn’t have evidence
so Ōshima-sensei won’t believe her
but being accused
by someone in your han
is bigger than just a matter
of evidence
and it takes me ages
to fall asleep