Paisley Rekdal

From the immigration questionnaire given to Chinese
entering or re-entering the U.S. during the Chinese Exclusion Act
Have you ridden in a streetcar?
Can you describe the taste of bread?
Where are the joss houses located in the city?
Do Jackson Street and Dupont run
in a circle or a line, what is the fruit
your mother ate before she bore you,
how many letters a year
do you receive from your father?
Of which material is your ancestral hall
now built? How many water buffalo
does your uncle own?
Do you love him? Do you hate her?
What kind of bird sang
at your parents' wedding? What are the birth dates
for each of your cousins: did your brother die
from starvation, work, or murder?
Do you know the price of tea here?
Have you ever touched a stranger's face
as he slept? Did it snow the year
you first wintered in our desert?
How much weight is
a bucket and a hammer? Which store
is opposite your grandmother's?
Did you sleep with that man
for money? Did you sleep with that man
for love? Name the color and number
of all your mother's dresses. Now
your village's rivers.
What diseases of the heart
do you carry? What country do you see
when you think of your children?
Does your sister ever write?
In which direction does her front door face?
How many steps did you take
when you finally left her?
How far did you walk
before you looked back?
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“Have Knowledge” is part of "West: A Translation," my book-length translation of a Chinese poem carved into the walls of Angel Island Immigration Station, sometime during the Chinese Exclusion Act. The Angel Island poem, written by an anonymous Chinese migrant, commemorates a fellow Chinese detainee who committed suicide. I was commissioned to write a poem about the transcontinental railroad for its 150th anniversary, and I wanted both to highlight the histories of the railroad workers as well as link the building of the transcontinental with the Chinese Exclusion Act, which was passed thirteen years after the first transcontinental railroad was completed. My complete translation of the Angel Island elegy has been turned into a digital poem, "West: A Translation," which readers can play to read and watch more documentary poems and videos. “Have Knowledge” has its own specific video. The book, complete with short historio-lyric essays and documentary images, is forthcoming May 2023 from Copper Canyon Press.

Paisley Rekdal on "有 識: Have Knowledge"
Color close-up photograph of Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame, holding a microphone
"One of Somalia’s Greatest Poets Dies"

"Messages of condolences continue to pour in from around the world following the death of Mohamed Ibrahim Warsame, regarded as one of Somalia’s greatest poets....'He was one of key pillars of Somalia’s art and literature who took a leading role in preserving the Somali culture and promoting the Somali language. His death is felt in every Somali household.'"

via THE GUARDIAN
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Cover image of James Longenbach's book, Forever
What Sparks Poetry:
Donald Revell on James Longenbach's Forever

"To read the poems gathered as Forever is to walk beside Jim Longenbach along the banks of Lethe. We know the place, having been here before, with Dante in the most beautiful cantos of  his Purgatorio. We remember its perils—the perils of oblivion and forgetfulness. And we remember its allures—the garden on the farther shore and a reunion there with the unforgettable. But something has changed. Somehow, Longenbach has prepared an estate for us along the water’s edge."
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