©1992 Kira Carrillo Corser

Hokori *

Joelle Inouye´, born April 23, 1985, raised her head up
high even 30 minutes after she was born. Yet three
months later, she couldn't lift her head from the
floor. She was diagnosed as having spinal muscular
atrophy. By the time she was two, she had had a
tracheotomy, had lost the use of most of her muscles,
and needed constant nursing care at home.

Stan Inouye´, CEO of a non-profit religious
organization, and Jane Inouye´, saw their insurance
premiums rise over the next few years from $412
a month before Joelle was born, to $1,310 a month.
Six months later, it soared to $1,920 a month. Their
annual premium -- $23,040 -- would be more than
they were earning in income, and more than they
had paid for their home.

Joelle has taken to dreaming at night --
I'm an Indian riding a whitewhite horse.
On her feet are black patent-leather shoes,
Barbie's tucked in her backpack, and the
wind's wildly loosening her hair.

She is heading to Wakayama
on the tea island of Honshu.
She is riding back four
generations, to the land
of her father's ancestors.
She is seeking, please, a laptop,
to speak her thoughts on the screen.

What would she say, this child
with a hole in her throat,
with weakened muscles
restraining her speech.
What would she say, her back
flat on the bed, her legs
riding the air.

What would she say, riding
round her friends at school,
round her sister, Heather,
round the light of her parents'
room. She has something to say.

She is seven, she knows nothing of
premiums. Yet, one night,
she rides deep into downtown,
to visit those who make of her a ledger.
She sees them record her bed twenty-five
hundred, her suction machine five hundred
and fifty. She watches them add sums paid out,
the wheelchair eight thousand. And when
they assess her -- nineteen hundred a month,
that's twenty-three thou a year, she bends
with hokori* from WhiteWhite Horse.

Down the spine of account book pages,
she leaves them her jetblack braid,
a bookmark.


- Frances Payne Adler


*hokori - pride



©1992 Kira Carrillo Corser