Thursday, July 2, 2020

Welcome Back to Toula Merkouris!



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

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