the child of a stranger by Wendy, China/USA, age 17

innocent and
crawling appeasement
subject to the laws and
dreams of its
people.
but my body holds the lines of your
country and my
country
unevenly. I cannot melt the borders
into one. I am no melting
pot. these borders are edged with
barbed wire.
I cannot fuse these patches of
redwhiteandblue with
yellowstarsandred. I cannot blend
the statue of liberty and the
great wall into something
monumental. the lakes will not
coalesce together. I cannot move mountains.
you
were born under a plated sun and
I under the snow. born half a world away,
I
sew together these borders with
clumsy fingers,
you
hold my fingers steady.
Photo courtesy of Jeremy via Creative Commons.