The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

Let not those who deny thee to us,
�make of thee a graven image and invite us
�to bow down to it

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writes Saum Song Bo. He says, graven, an idol beyond us
�stone or steel, unalive

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he says deny, foot barely on shore, spun around, go home

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How to escape exclusion, keep one step ahead of the tiger’s teeth
�snapping at your heels?

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He says those, their Central Pacific dreams of gold rumbling along
�on a bed of a thousand Chinese lives

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the traincar rhythm not/your/tired/your/poor, your/tired
�your/poor, not/the/tempest/tossed, the/tempest/tossed

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not the yearning/yearning/yearning to breathe free
�a chant hammered into gospel, sung out loud, written in ink

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sealed into law, so easy, it’s always been.

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Denise Bergman is author of Seeing Annie Sullivan (Cedar Hill Books, 2005), poems based on the early life of Helen Keller’s teacher, and the editor of an anthology of urban poetry, City River Voices (West End Press, 1992).

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