Toula Merkouris is a Canadian poet and children's author, and her poem for tonight helps us to consider the immigrant experience. It's funny that when I looked for a picture for tonight all I could find were images of the early 1900s!
The Immigrant Song
(my mother and your mother were washing
the clothes)
The girl stands plucking branches in the
wide expanse of the olive grove
Gazing upwards she closes her eyes to the
heavens
And welcomes the unexpected breeze dancing
through her hair
Cooling her sweat drenched brow and the
nape of her neck
The girl knows that the wind wants to
trick her
That it
Leaves behind a salty residue that no
amount of scrubbing can erase
Soon
Her once sun-kissed coppery tresses will
be gone forever
The girl knows this and still she welcomes
the brief respite from a hellish day
The wind rises, making the ruffles of her
newly gifted dress snap westward across her chest like a flag lying at
half-mast across her milk heavy bosom,
Testing her resolve
Playing games
Not meant for the weak of heart
Dust swirls at her feet
She’s barefoot
The girl looks down at the ebony fabric of
her
Mourning gown
And thinks of how it was so hastily sewn
together by
The same brown-spotted and slightly
gnarled fingers
That reached into her very core
And pulled into the world
The mewling cries
Of all her hungry children
She did remember to say thank you
(my mother gave your mother a punch in the
nose)
The girl stands stretching up onto her
toes
Straightening out the kinks that seem to
have taken up permanent residence in her spine
She does this whilst standing in the
cavernous belly of a stainless-steel beast
Listening to the whir of
Clicking needles;
A perfectly synchronized song of a
thousand nightingales masking the creaking of aching and porous bones
And the back and forth roll of a rocking
chair that’s been purposefully nailed to the floor
The girl thinks
How nice it would have been
If their porthole had been left
Slightly ajar
Squinting up at harsh fluorescent lights
The girl turns racoon eyes back to
plucking
Errant threads off of cashmere sweaters
and
Musing over the sound of
Stamps on passports
The punch of 4x6 rectangles bearing
The ink-smudged letters of her name
(what color was the blood?)
The girl
Sits
Hunched over needlework
With every surface of her two-bedroom
apartment properly encapsulated
By intricately woven doilies
In every shade of cream known to man
The girl can
Finally
Turn her hands to
Knitting capes
For her many granddaughters to wear
Over red ruffled dresses
White knee-high socks
Black Mary Janes polished to a high gloss
The girl hopes that
One day
When her granddaughters look down
Bored
Queued up
Near the nave of the church
Mouths slightly agape
Restless in their readiness
To receive their Holy Communion
They might catch reflections of the girl
As she once was:
Standing in the shadow
Of a giant fleur-de-lis
Clutching a maple leaf
To her heart
Singing a litany
Of what it means
To run
Headlong
Into the winds
Of change.
To finish up tonight, I'll include some music by people who emigrated to the US or Canada from other countries.
Let's start with Pacquito D'Rivera who defected from Cuba. With his Panamericana Ensemble, he is playing "Panamericana": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSP7wS0RUgU&list=PLSY_UEF1AotibAEKgG8OKwBx8zg25vUmo
An immigrant from Panama, Danilo Perez plays "Expedition" with his Global Messengers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG3aS66lANM
As he informs us, "The inspiration for this piece is the story of the arrival of the African, Middle Eastern, and European cultures to America."
Hugh Masekela came to us from South Africa. Here is his "Thuma Mina": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4qTegItvjM&list=PLzlacxg0nSoKdX7CHMx6R6MAyAmFMFBoD
Born in what is now the Czech Republic, bassist George Mraz worked with Oscar Peterson. Here they play. "Stella by Starlight": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au9DrtKLEpU
Jim Galloway emigrated to Canada from Scotland. Here is his version of "Bourbon Street Parade": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyHkRlvuMoQ
Love it!
ReplyDelete