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Poetry of Issue 9: The Immigrant’s Tale

The Immigrant’s Tale

I am a descendant of the Mother of Exiles:

An immigrant of weavers whose roots from

The Old Heartland saw the world as a loom

And used the imagination to be one’s destiny.

Most seafaring dreamers were purged

By vicious monarchs who treated us

Like slaves, putrid cheese, or thieves.

We were the mules and wetbacks chained

To cruel machines that catered to

An abyss of the ultra-rich and vile!

We were born in painful debt and

Wealth was an alluring mistress.

We were carried by an enormous wind of

Adventure, grit, and risks. We clung to

Hope to survive the storms of humble

Beginnings. I am that hungry refugee

Walking among the shadows – that

Street vendor with a heavy load of

Humor and cosmic irony bearing

Witness to the moronic hatred and

Privilege fears of the unknown.

We are still a labor of love in progress.

by Josè Ángel Figueroa

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