I am a piece of meat. Exasperation: A poor nod to Dr. Seuss.

As foreigners we endure attentions we'd rather be without
like my friend Lauren whose photo was taken by a stranger while we were out
She's a looker, and stands out in public with her blue eyes and blond hair
no doubt she gets a lot of reactions and children in onsens like to stare.
But let me be the first to give native Japanese a clue
we don't want our photos taken by strange men who smell like poo.
He didn't even say hello, not a single word was spoken
We tried to shield her, and I think that Lena tried to choke him
But still in silence he insisted and took a photo with his cell phone
as Lauren pleaded in quiet whimpers, "Leave me the !%&$ alone..."

To my surprise and utter shock I saw myself on TV
from a hike I took with some friends in the Gotsu community.
Don't get me wrong, I love attention, like any theater buff
but the frequency with which this happens has made me scream "Enough!"
On rough mornings when my hair's a mess and I'm running to the store
some random car pulls over and a passenger opens a door,
"Picture, okay?" some smiling teenager asks real pleasantly.
Through the crust in my eyes I want to cry, "are you kidding me?!"

The other day I visited a school I go to very rarely
the night before I planned for class and slept 2 hours barely.
My energy was shot, and it was time to leave and take a nap
when the vice principal with the dotted tie gave my shoulder a timid tap.
He said something about games and gestured for me to follow him
there was a jump-rope competition ensuing in the gym.
He wanted me to participate, and as I tried for a rain check
I noticed the large expensive camera that was slung around his neck.
I thought the reason he wanted me to jump with students I had never met
was so he could take photos of me with underarms soaking wet,
my tongue lolling out and my eyes rolling back,
wouldn't you know my guess at his motives was exact?
He began taking photos the moment I started to feel sick
the students were confused, and all I could hear was 'click' 'click'.
He didn't even try to feign that there was another reason
for me to be there among strangers, tired and barely breathing.

When my friend visited, he thought it was bizarre,
that he was being treated like a visiting rock star.
My first week in Japan, I was laying next to the sea
when I opened my eyes and saw a man standing over me,
he said 'hello', then took a photo, his hair was heavily greased
he walked away as if it wasn't creepy in the least.
The exchange student at Gotsu High School is always aghast
to see himself in the local paper, when he isn't even asked.

We don't do anything more spectacular than the local citizenry
we don't look any more beautiful, not one of us is a celebrity,
and yet we are at the mercy of people's cameras and invasion
as if it's their right to take/publish our photo because we don't look Asian.
I don't know when this started and why it is so commonplace,
but the next time someone tries it, they may get a punch in the face!