Wong Kim Ark 1895
Wong Kim Ark, though born in the US, was refused re-entry after an 1895 trip to China. His birthright citizenship questioned, he was detained with no charges. The lawsuit was settled in 1898.
I float lonely in San Francisco Bay, this giant bowl
sloshing with passing steamships and fishing boats,
almost in view of Sacramento Street, my birthplace.
I’m jammed in steerage, forced to sway and bump night and day
with the restless waves. Without a life preserver,
I’ll drown if I jump overboard.
Customs officers collude with sea captains,
move me from ship to ship
like a bundle of silk or spices misplaced in transit.
detained with no charges
Three witnesses swear to my certificate of travel
and return, as required, with my photograph
stamped and dated.
In daydreams I escape and fly with the power of wind and waves
to China, my new wife. Bow to my parents who returned
after many years to our village in China.
detained with no charges
Officials leave me dangling
between countries.
They see a queue
hanging down my back,
the magua I wear,
my alien face.
detained with no charges
19th Century Chinese Immigrants Speak
We drive spikes in railroad ties across the West,
you hammer us with low wages.
We scale the Sierra Nevada Mountains
carve fifteen tunnels for your railroad
but you make us buy our own food and supplies.
Excluded at the Promontory Point celebration
our faces are cut out of photos. We, the Silent Spikes,
make no speeches.
We feed your workers throughout the West—
new flavors for miners jealous of our efforts.
In steaming laundries we soak, bleach, scrub,
wring out and press your clothing.
From small stores we sell spices, teas, cloth—
the porcelain you desire—
but it is not enough to live in your neighborhoods,
learn in your schools. It is not enough
to keep vicious cartoons off the pages of local papers:
yellow terror,
coolies,
ching chong,
chink.
Nothing is enough to permit our mothers,
daughters, wives to join us in the promised land,
rebuild our families. You believe they carry disease and immorality,
will stain America. So we live lonely.
Nothing is enough for you to offer
us an America that is home.
Lennie Hay is a 2019 MFA graduate of Spalding University, Louisville, KY.
She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, and
masters and doctorate degrees from the University of Louisville. She grew
up in the Midwest between two cultures—Chinese immigrants and German
Ukrainian farmers. A former educator, she’s lived in the Louisville area for
over 50 years and now lives near the water in Southern Indiana and in
Florida. She draws energy for her poetry from her family’s history, the
natural world, visual art, food, and music. Lennie has been published in
journals such as the Louisville Review, Literary Accents, Heartland
Review, the Shanghai Literary Review and others, as well as in three
anthologies. Her book Lost in America was published in 2024 by
Broadstone Books. She has a new book, Feeding the Dead, forthcoming in
June 2026.
Featured image Almonroth, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
