Immigrants
These poems try to tell of an experience through two different perspectives. I have been blessed to work closely with my parents in this journey of Evermore. They have sacrificed much that will never be seen by others, so much of their time, tears, and love have been poured into the space. In the past, their generosity and self sacrifice have left me with feelings of immense guilt. Now, I am working towards shifting those feelings of guilt to feelings of gratitude. Thank you to my mommy and daddy for believing in the vision of Evermore and caring so much about the community to help me try and bring it to life. Thank you to my Popo and Gung Gung, my Mama and Yeh Yeh for all they gave so that others could have.
To be an Immigrant Parent
It Is carrying with you
The sorrow of the goodbyes
You were forced to say.
Or perhaps the goodbyes
You never had a chance to say.
It is learning early on,
That life doesn’t take into account
Whether you feel ready,
Or not.
Ready to leave,
Ready to grieve,
Ready to run.
Ready or not,
Here life comes.
And yet,
While the past buries itself inside you,
The future tries to haunt you.
Possibility comes tainted with negativity.
Your beloved children,
What will they face?
You hope desperately
When life comes,
They will be more ready
Then you were.
So you push them hard,
And sometimes,
You push them away,
Before life has a chance to,
Because perhaps at least then,
You prepared them.
To be an Immigrant’s Child
What is the weight we carry?
The weight we carry
Is different.
It is its own heavy
Its own hard
Its own story.
It is the story of our parents
And their parents’ past, present,
And future hopes,
All intertwining into
Our now, and our later.
It is everything they ever feared
And all they ever dreamed
Layered in between–
Our existence,
Our own searching
Our own mistakes
Our own wonders
Of what life could be.
It’s complicated, mysterious, and
B e a u t i f u l.
It is one of the greatest burdens we will carry,
That is until,
It becomes the greatest gift we redeem.