<div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif;color:black;"><p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><o:p><span style="text-decoration:none"> </span></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>The<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>poem is
basically understood<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>And I enjoyed the writing.<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>I have trouble makeing<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>some of the connections between your examples.<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>For example, <o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Are you justifying the trail of tears by the story of
being given a pot for the grandmother’s travails. <o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>I think your message is that even in the most
difficult circumstances<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>immigrants<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>turned hope into realities.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>However, calling native Americans immigrants is a
stretch. <o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>I see the connections, <o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>but they do pose a problem, <o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>requiring a willing mind to make the various
connections.<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>At the same time, it is easy to make the connections
of native americans and immigrants.<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>Both may have been forced off their land and compelled
to find a new land to live in. <o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>But, Cherokees would have done fine if they could have
remained in their homes on the east coast.<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>On the whole, it is a fine poem, with an important
message I totally agree with. <o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>As always, it is well written.<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><o:p><span style="text-decoration:none"> </span></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><o:p><span style="text-decoration:none"> </span></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><u>When you don’t have a space between hope<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>and Makers it is read very strangely.<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Alice submission for March<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b>The Immigrant’s
Password</b><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center">Poem by Alice
Jane-Marie Massa<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who will build a Statue of Liberty on the Rio Grande?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Gather together all of the workers <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who were building “The Wall,”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">craftsmen, and artisans too:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let them erect a new beckoning<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lady of Liberty.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then, promise you will simultaneously build<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">a new, modern Ellis Island--<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with no cages attached.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Shouldn’t we be able to build<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">a complex much better than Ellis Island?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If we are to welcome guests--immigrants--<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let us welcome them with dignity, hope, and home.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let us welcome them at the hour<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">when all plans are brought to fruition.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with our lofty ambitions,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let us not become accomplices to Coyotes,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let us not move so rapidly<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that we set up more failures,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">more forgotten people, more lost children<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">than successful hope makers, dream catchers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who created “The Trail of Tears”?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On that “Trail of Tears,”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the government gave an iron pot<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to one Cherokee grandmother,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who later bequeathed that iron pot<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">to her daughter.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the new land,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the daughter became a mother<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who grew flowers in the old iron pot<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">that had survived “The Trail of Tears.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That Cherokee mother gave to her daughter<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">not just the flowers from the government-issued cooking pot,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but the poetry of liberty.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">That daughter became<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Poet Laureate of the United States of America--<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Joy Harjo.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now, instead of a Trail of Tears<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from state to state,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">we witness<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><i>un
sendero de lagrimas</i><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">from another America to this America.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Within my veins stream<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the hope, determination, imagination<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">of immigrants.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Within my heart beat<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the folk songs of immigrants.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Etched onto the soles of my shoes<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">are the footprints of my immigrant grandparents.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Folded into my hands<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">are the prayers and petitions<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">of all immigrants who have reached for freedom.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who among us can whisper<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the immigrant’s password?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To these people who long to hold onto a new land,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">can you say:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Wait.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Be patient.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Return in six months, my friend.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">On the news, I hear the statistics:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">4200 . . . 400 each day.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then, I think of one family,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">one person,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">one child,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">one password.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hope.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Lagrimas de la libertad</i>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">number of words:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>357<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">number of poetic lines:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>66<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">March 18, 2021, Thursday:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>for Group 2 critique session on March 25, 2021, Thursday<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div>