In her poem, Prospective Immigrants, Please Note, Adrienne Rich (1929-2012), invites her readers to consider a rich definition of immigrants. Maybe we’re not leaving one country for another, but standing on the threshold between two emotional landscapes, holding the familiar and facing uncertainty, giving up one belief or world view to take in another, or facing some other choice.
Both ways are perilous, she warns.
Either you will
go through this door
or you will not go through.
If you don’t, she tells us,
it is possible
to live worthily
to maintain your attitudes
to hold your position
to die bravely
If you do,
there is always the risk
of remembering your name
It’s up to us.
The door itself makes no promises.
It is only a door.
Annette Atkins
