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immigration

Draft
artist book bookbinding collaboration

a poem by Meeko Israel

accordion fold pages with hand-drawn new york city skyline and vellum overlay with typewriter-typed words

the book

the author

“Immigration” is a poem written by Meeko Israel, a longstanding resident of Oberlin, OH, the eponymous town surrounding Oberlin College. While I was a student at the college, my bookbinding class partnered with Meeko to create artist books from his poetry. Read more about Meeko and his life here.

the poem

humble
	humble
		humble
			humble
eat some humble
humble
	humble
eat your humble pie
humble
	humble
		humble
			humble
eat some humble pie
shove it in your face
creative
	non-native
using her money
	her body
to become a
citizen
	sitting on
	her island
imagining
	what it is to
what it is to
	what		what
		what
	it is to
	what it is to
what		what
	what
it is to
live in a nation
	where she is truly free
in her country
	she is only free inside her
imagination
	immigration
imagination
	immigration
the new york city streets
are paved with gold
at least that's what she was told
who?
who
who are they?
	they are the folks who
	went before her
who she knew actually made it
	on an airline ticket
no more slave steps
	her friend wrote her in a letter
that times
that time
that		that many times
	that
	abroad were much	much better
			  much
than they
than they were
		in the islands
the u.s.
the u.s.a.
the u.s.
the u.s.a.
actually fed her
until she found one of the
three jobs she now has
yeah, she got three jobs
quick,
	fast,
		and in a hurry
because		because they say
	because
most yankees don't even want one
they just
	they just like to
sit on their ass and have fun
but still
there is this matter of
	immigration
		immigration
	imagination
		immigration