After an arduous sea voyage, immigrants arriving at Ellis Island were tagged with information from their ship’s registry; they then waited on long lines for medical and legal inspections to determine if they were fit for entry into the United States. — Smithsonian Magazine
as long as you’re not carrying
disease of the eye of the genitals
as long as you change your name from Aaron
to something more humble-sounding how about Harry?
as long as you never write anything in your diary
you wouldn’t want me to read
as long as you don’t appear to be broken
or immortal
as long as you ignore the strong feelings
that will pour through you like sheets of rain
as long as you don’t hold your native language
in your body like poetry
as long as you bear in mind you’ll be a guest
in somebody else’s house forever
Laura Ann Reed is the author of the chapbook Homage to Kafka (Poetry Box, 2025). Her work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has appeared in numerous journals as well as in nine anthologies including Poetry of Presence (Grayson Books, 2023) and The Wonder of Small Things (Storey Publishing, 2023) https://lauraannreed.net/
This poem was so moving, it is a work of art.
Laura Ann,
This is just beautiful and so relevant now. This line-
” as long as you don’t hold your native language
in your body like poetry”
I held my breath when I read it.