Ellis Island

“Immigrant Blues” by Li-Young Lee (2008)

In this poem, the poem’s speaker attempts to explain the challenges immigration poses for them. At the poem’s beginning, readers encounter a man explaining to his son why it is important to know two languages. The father explains that the world is dangerous. Throughout the poem, the speaker emphasizes the importance of silence, and the poem’s structure allows readers to pause and contemplate its importance as they progress through the poem. The poem speaker also does not force his views onto the reader. Instead, he invites readers into the conversation. Throughout the poem, the speaker challenges his father’s advice, since it seems that the father’s life has been anything but easy and the father hasn’t been spared any suffering.

“ICE Agents Storm My Porch” by Maria Melendez Kelson (2014)

This poem fuses themes of nature, Earth, and even outer space to engage readers with the poem. The poem offers a variety of perspectives which allow readers to feel the fear and entrapment many immigrants experience in a new country due to government policies. The speaker expresses hate in order to help readers understand the distress many immigrant families experience.