Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!
Poetry Paraders recognize these lines from the The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus, a poem engraved on a tablet within the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. At Lafayette School, we learn about and visit nearby Ellis Island and understand the importance of the immigrant experience in our country's history. Today's poem, from We the People by Bobbi Katz, imagines a young immigrant's arrival at Ellis Island in 1911. The narrative poem uses sight and sound imagery to help tell the story:
America!
the first-class passengers,
the ones with cabins.
From behind the metal gate
I could glimpse fragments:
a billowing feather on a hat,
a silk scarf,
a tapered hand in pale suede,
an elegant carrying case.
They would go straight to the city.
Not us. Not the steerage.
Feathers?
Ours, if any, had been sewn into quilts.
We had no suede gloves,
no silk-
just babushkas and bundles,
hopes and prayers.
First we must go to Ellis Island.
A human jumble:
babies crying, elders sighing,
our ears swimming in a noisy stew:
German, Italian, Swedish, Yiddish,
even English with an Irish lilt.
We did not understand each others' words,
except one,
America!
At last the gate swung open,
and we crowded onto the ferry.
Then, as it pulled away from the ship,
we saw her-- Lady Liberty!
rising from the sea,
her strong arm holding a torch
as if to light our way.
One by one we whispered the word,
"America!"
"America!"
Again and again,
"America!"
"America!
until
the echoed word became a blizzard!
A swarm of sparkling jewels that I could see
hovering
over the dark water.
The LMC holds great titles that celebrate American History Month: the Dear America series in fiction, cartoon-style graphic novels in nonfiction, and many books in the poetry collection that take a lively (and sometimes humorous) look at our nation's story. Check them out-- and think about the people, places, and events that interest you in Social Studies class. You may be inspired to make some poetic history of your own!
The LMC holds great titles that celebrate American History Month: the Dear America series in fiction, cartoon-style graphic novels in nonfiction, and many books in the poetry collection that take a lively (and sometimes humorous) look at our nation's story. Check them out-- and think about the people, places, and events that interest you in Social Studies class. You may be inspired to make some poetic history of your own!
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