Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Terry SavoieFebruary 05, 2001
Out of busses; water-
buffalo carts; military
transports, out of harm's
way they spill,these dark,
brooding Kierkegaards,
shoulders slumped,
clutching their god-
defiant hopes, dragging
behind them their neighbors'
far-flung curses. On common
ground they each stand upon
their two miserable excuses
for legs, planting them
timidly, praying for
a harvest. In haste
they've thrown together
their impoverished, cardboard
shacks & pasted-on smiles
for foreign news correspondents
as they squat down with crinkled,
devalued currency stuffed in-
side their dirty underwear;
the NO TRESPASSING
signs hanging like millstones
from their necks. They've traveled
with generations of precious heirlooms,
without the solace of first-born sons.
Behold, here are the world's first
citizens: wizened fathers with
Zenith TV's strapped to their backs;
mothers with tired, spent breasts;
children lost forever inside
a foreign-language loudspeaker
announcement that screams bloody
murder at them, Go home to wherever
it is you came from, you bastards!
Yes, they're going, they're going,
but they never seem to be
quite able to get there.
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

It is not an exaggeration to say that between 1940 and 1980, the author and critic Riley Hughes reviewed well over 1,000 books for different Catholic magazines.
James T. KeaneMay 13, 2025
Peruvians celebrate as they join the pope for the 'Regina Coeli' prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on May 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)
Father Robert Prevost first arrived in Peru in 1985 during a time of crisis, the aftermath of devastating El Niño rains that had left thousands of people homeless.
Kevin ClarkeMay 13, 2025
“I invited His Holiness to make an apostolic visit to Ukraine. Such a visit would bring real hope to all believers and to all our people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on X.
Pope Leo XIV’s devotion to St. Augustine, his life and ministry as a member of the Augustinian order and his focus on the unity of the church are reflected in his episcopal motto and coat of arms.