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64 - Crude Poem Inspired by the Landscape

"I have been detained and obstacles have been put in my

way for half a year.

Melancholy and hate gather on my face.

Now that I must return to my country,

I have toiled like the jingwei bird in vain."

Angel Island Immigration StationWall Carvings

• Author compares him- or herself to a Chinese folk legend

• All his/her suffering has been for nothing

• "Nation of immigrants" rejects other immigrants

51 [I hastened here for the sake of my stomach and landed promptly in jail.]

• Author left China to escape starvation

• "They treat us Chinese badly and feed us yellowed greens" - salted cabbage

• Highlights racism in America

• Contradicts pride in the "melting pot" mentality

Anonymous Wall Carvings from Early Chinese Immigrants

#5, 8, 35, 38, 51, 64

35 [Leaving behind my writing brush and removing my sword, I came]

An

American Man's Dream

"

"If there comes a day when I will have attained my ambition and become successful."

Tell me your names,

tell me your bashful names

and I will testify.

the inventory lists ten slaves

but only men were recognized

"

- She wants to know the names of the slaves because she feels that they were not honored and she wants to testify on their behalf and recognize them

- She also points out that only men were recognized on the list of inventory

-Implying that this American dream is not only a white privilege, but only a man's privilege as well

  • He was leaving everything he owned in China for the American Dream.
  • Wants to achieve new things in America.
  • Would miss China but there are better things waiting for him in America.

"The Dishonored"

The narrator is visiting a graveyard reflecting on the work done. They realize that recognition is not given to whom it should be given to.

5 [Four days before the Qiqiao Festival]

  • Chinese detainee who boarded a steamship waiting to be interrogated on application for entry into America
  • She describes the slaves in an honorable way
  • The "honored," or the slave owners, are described in a less than honorable way
  • The slaves fulfill the American ideal more than the slave owners

"Lucille Clifton." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 09 Sept. 2013.

"Counting on my fingers, several months have elapsed.

Still I am at the beginning of the road.

I have yet to be interrogated.

My heart is nervous with anticipation."

The Unmentioned

38 [Being idle in the wooden building, I opened a window]

  • One of many wall carvings of feelings of anger, frustration, uncertainty, hope and despair, self-pity, homesickness, and loneliness filling the walls of the detention barrack
  • Waiting for the results of appeals or orders for their deportation

"nobody mentioned the slaves." The slaves didn't ever have a name in society other than in fact what they were, slaves. Then the author points out the plantations work was done by the slaves, the tools that were used to upkeep the property were used by the slaves, "have their fingerprints on them" "But nobody mentioned the slaves"

"Being idle in the wooden building, I opened a window."

"Why else do we come to this place to be imprisoned?"

"At the Cemetery, Walnut Grove Plantation, South Carolina 1989"

  • This part of the poem is telling the story of the immigrant waiting at Ellis Island to gain citizenship for America.
  • For Chinese-Immigrants they had extensive interrogations and sometimes they would be detained.
  • Wondering why they came to America just be put in a cell to wait questioning.
  • Could be held for many days, or even months.

8 [Instead of remaining a citizen of China, I willingly became an ox]

Lucille Clifton:

By: Lucile Clifton

"The Western styled buildings are lofty; but I have

not the luck to live in them.

How was anyone to know that my dwelling place

would be a prison?"

  • Debunks the American Dream as a Chinese immigrant
  • Works hard, but has not seen the fruits of his labor
  • America becomes his prison, as he is made to work to survive, but never climbs the ladder of success
  • Born in Depew, NY on June 27, 1936
  • Has written multiple collections of poetry
  • Received an Emmy, a Lannan Literary Award, and more.
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