Ellis Island
by Joseph Bruchac
(published in his 1978 book, Entering Onondaga, Cold Mountain Press)
Beyond the red brick of Ellis Island
where the two Slovak children
who became my grandparents
waited the long days of quarantine,
after leaving the sickness,
the old Empires of Europe,
a Circle Line ship slips easily
on its way to the island
of the tall woman, green
as dreams of forests and meadows
waiting for those who’d worked
a thousand years
yet never owned their own.
Like millions of others,
I too come to this island,
nine decades the answerer
of dreams.
Yet only part of my blood loves that memory.
Another voice speaks
of native lands
within this nation.
Lands invaded
when the earth became owned.
Lands of those who followed
the changing Moon,
knowledge of the seasons
in their veins.
Joseph Bruchac is an author who is of Abenaki, English, and Slovak ancestry, all of which are relevant to this poem.
Not only are the first two stanzas different from the third as far as topic, with the first two reflecting on his European immigrant grandparents and the third focusing on his Native American lineage, but even the forms are different. Stanzas one and two are both only 1 sentence, while stanza 3 has 3 sentences. And that first stanza's sentence is a long one!
I love how the Statue of Liberty is described here as "the tall woman, green as dreams of forests and meadows," as well as the slant rhyme of green and dreams. What he shares about this side of his family is familiar to many Americans--immigrants leaving disease and political turmoil and poverty.
In stanza 2, the speaker tells us that he is visiting Ellis Island.
Then there is a turn in the third stanza, and it is so personal that the speaker uses body imagery to explain it. Yes, part of his blood, his memory, and his voice understand this place and that common immigration story. But the other part of him has other ancestral memories of an America before the invasion of others, and these recollections are rooted in nature--land, the moon, the seasons changing. And we as readers are reminded that their knowledge of these things was in the veins. This stanza starts and ends with blood, which seems fitting given the connection the speaker feels and also the violence that permeates the past of most Americans, native and immigrant.
I love when poems have a turn like this--it's not a shocking, unwarranted change (that I don't like). I also like how he tells us things through description, as how he tells us "the Statue of Liberty." Another thing that impresses me in this poem is the speed of the first stanza, and how the poem slows as we move through the next two stanzas.
Bruchac mostly writes YA novels and books for young readers, and most are centered on Native American characters, history, culture, and lives. He has won numerous awards for these books.
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