RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION
Seven Generations: A Short Story
The generations flow
Like currents in a great river
Like waves in the sea
Where each wave is endowed
With the power to alter
The course of history
And all that it encompasses
It begins with immigration
(this is not a native story)
Religious persecution
Economic opportunity
Importation of slaves
The great potato famine
The Armenian genocide
The siege of the Warsaw ghetto
The Nazi invasion
The Bracero program
Cold War refugees
The purge of Christians
The purge of Muslims
It begins with the journey
A journey of hardship
Discrimination and hatred
Violence and disruption
It advances through seven stages
Poor paying jobs
Substandard housing
Poverty and rejection
We don’t want your kind
Go back where you came from
It endures through persistence
With the help of friends
Understanding neighbors
And welcoming neighborhoods
It advances through hard work
Success and acceptance
Community sacrifice and service
It advances through legal proceedings
Stubborn insistence on human rights
Fights in the court
Fights in the legislature
It advances when the doors
Of opportunity open through
Representation and demand
It advances through power
Money and control
In seven generations you arrive
At the American dream
And the keepers at the gate wonder:
What took you so long?
