Arrival in America
With thanks to Emma Lazarus No dirt cheap steerage ticket from Liverpool, jammed in the hold of an empty cotton ship, holding onto few belongings, threadbare coat, stalked by typhus and seasickness, the sudden spewing out onto Ellis Island, cross-examinations by indifferent border guards, shaming medical inspections, new names, compassion from former immigrants, instant friends plotting to fleece. My ship is a trans-Atlantic flight from Amsterdam. in a half-price Economy - desperate airline - trying to ignore the complaints of a wandering tempest, coughing travelers lying flat to breathe freely, unmasked protestors huddled in masses of denial. I lower my mask only to gobble luke-warm dinner. I keep my bag close, bulging with paperwork and hopes that the Embassy’s good wishes work. A Customs Officer colossus fueled by viral fear. He prescribes infectious orders and irritation. Obedient and fearful, I accept the accusations of mysterious forms not filled in, the dismissive hand when I offer my paperwork (that will create a Kafkaesque series of complications months later). Hurried handwriting suggests dishonesty. 1-1000 -the chances of contracting the British variant. I’m British but haven’t been there for over a year. He lowers his guard, risks a small smile, but still warns me he could get sick. Desperate for humanity, I tell him I understand his fear. His shoulders relax. He stamps the passport and holds it out, warning me not to get any trouble. I hurry away in my last pair of shoes, torn on the inside. A Russian-American TSA agent welcomes me with smiles and a warming story about having an English wife. From Reading. One short flight to Portland to meet my mighty woman. Seattle shrinks below to the size of a concrete hive. The line of Cascade volcanoes state in a wintry ellipse amongst rugged sentences of hills, all named after presidents, generals and diplomats replacing names from native legends as old as glaciers. My wife waits wearing a respirator by the golden Arrivals door. In Xian In Xian I watch the way an elderly woman tapers her yin brush quill into night deep ink and spill into onto bare yang paving slabs wider than her stance, spelling out incomprehensible characters poetry in her arms and hands, her hum and movement. I applaud her and she laughed, waving me away, ink flicking. I ask for a translation. She shrugs a toothy grin. A kindly local reads the characters and tells me: Idiot tourists cannot read Chinese. Seeing my surprise, the old woman laughs and Lao Tse nods. Published in Fall 2022 in Acta Victoria, #146.2
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Poetry Biography:I have had over 70 poems published in the following worldwide magazines and literary journals: A Handful of Stones, Acta Victoriana (Canada), All the Sins (UK), The Amethyst Review (USA), Amsterdam Quarterly (NL) The Blue Nib (Ireland), Bolts of Silk, Borderless Journal, The Brasilia Review (Brazil), Bushfire Literature & Arts Review (US), Cadenza, Cake Magazine, Carillon, Cha: An Asian Literary Journal (Hong Kong), DASH (USA), Clackamas Literary Review (USA), Cooch Behar Anthology, Dawntreader, Dreamcatcher, The Dillydoun Review, Earth Love, The Ear (US), Eastlit (East Asia), Erbacce, Envoi, Finger Dance Festival, Ginosko, Gloom Cupboard, Hidden Channel, Inlandia Journal, IS&T (Ink, Sweat & Tears), Into the Void (Canada), The Journal, The Lakeview Journal (India), Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Lunch Ticket (USA) The New Writer, One Hand Clapping, Orbis, Oregon English Journal (USA), The Passage Between, Prole, Sentinel Literary Quarterly, Sonic Boom (India), Third Wednesday (USA), Of Nepalese Clay (Nepal), New Contrast (South Africa), One Hand Clapping, Opportunity Publishing, The Oregon English Journal (USA) Origami Poems Project (USA), Panoplyzine (USA), Paper Swan Press, The Passage Between, The Peacock Journal (USA), Pens on Fire, Poetry Salzburg (Austria), Potomac Review, (USA) Prole, Pulsar Poetry, Rear View Poetry, Queen Mob's Teahouse, Qutub Minar Review (India), Red Ink, Shiela-Na-Gig (USA), South Bank Poetry Magazine, Stand, Waterford Teachers Centre, (Ireland) We Are a Website New Literary Journal (Singapore), Weber - The Contemporary West Review (USA), Windfall (USA), Writing Magazine, Words for the Wild and Verbal Art (India). Archives
March 2024
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