The poems "Fuimos visibles / We were the visible ones" and "come with me" are written in English and Spanish.
Contents:
come with me. Open -- Basho & Mandela -- You just don't talk about it -- Listen to Elias Canetti -- Don't push the button -- [interruption] -- [1] -- [2] -- [3] -- [4] -- [5] -- Ko Un says -- Touch the earth (once again) -- Roll under the waves -- Fuimos visibles / We were the visible ones -- Enuf -- Interview w/a border machine -- Color tense -- i am not a paid performer -- & no one knew them -- Everyday we get more illegal -- todavía estoy aquí the deported father said -- border fever 105.7 degrees -- i want to speak of unity -- Ten thousand lives -- come with me.
Summary:
"In this collection of poems, written during and immediately after two years on the road as United States Poet Laureate, Juan Felipe Herrera reports back on his travels through contemporary America. Poems written in the heat of witness, and later, in quiet moments of reflection, coalesce into an urgent, trenchant, and yet hope-filled portrait. The struggle and pain of those pushed to the edges, the shootings and assaults and injustices of our streets, the lethal border game that separates and divides, and then: a shift of register, a leap for peace and a view onto the possibility of unity. Every Day We Get More Illegal is a jolt to the conscience-filled with the multiple powers of the many voices and many textures of every day in America"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.