Kitchen Table Stories (Shattered Vessels Poems)

Her childhood:

Her family hiding from the Russian soldiers burning their home.

Her father carrying her on the streets after Ellis Island.

NO JEWS ALLOWED.

His grandfather:

Three young brothers newly arrived and starving off a boat from Ireland.

He asked a man if he could work on the docks.

NO IRISH WANTED.

Their life:

Their parents’ flight because their marriage was a crime.

They themselves fearing to return.

NO NEGROES HERE.

Recently me:

A bus driver told me I should be deported.

My kind isn’t wanted here.

GOD HATES QUEERS.

The vessels crack and crack and shatter.

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