So it isn't just about sex, it's about love and appreciation.

Readers know the poet is watching because Donna's stomach is white. That is different from an Asian's skin color, and the imagery here appeals to the senses because the two cultures are lying "naked, face-up, face-down" and maybe, just maybe, he can teach her some Chinese ("Ni, wo") while the two are about to engage in physical romance.

Irony is part of the stanza in which the poet reminds his readers that while the teacher seems smart enough to bring a non-ripened persimmon to class (which the poet doesn't try to eat because he knows it isn't sweet enough), the poet knows a thing or two about persimmons. Indeed, his mom gave him really good advice by saying that persimmons have the sun inside them, "...something golden, glowing, warm as my face." He may have been punished for mispronouncing...
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