Immigrant

Flagged - Words in Exile: Entry 5

This word was flagged by the U.S. government for erasure in 2025.  Click Here. Or not.

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blonde hair, blue eyes –
the first immigrants didn’t knock.
American chestnut –
they felled it to clear the field.
called it progress. called it god.

feral pig – Spanish immigrants
let it loose. still rooting
through burial grounds. camas crushed
under hoof. four hundred years
of uninvited mouth. it hasn’t stopped eating.

French immigrants brought wool
striped with points – each point, a pelt.
river ice, skinning knife.
someone drapes the blanket over a child.
$400 at the Hudson’s Bay store.

an immigrant child
draws a house with no door.
crayon pressed so hard it snaps.
Tagetes – marigold for the dead.
the teacher corrects her English.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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