Dear Immigrant,

Thomas Quitzau

February 26, 2023

Oh, beautiful, poor, tired Immigrant–

Are you sure? Are you confident?

The land o’ the free taken lit’rally

For freedom’s not most prevalent I feel—

Many harsh laws “for me but not for thee”

Flame o’ Lady Liberty’s torch surreal. 

Chopper swarms swoop to peek at her copper,

Sworn servants, jock’ying, corruptly relate

Who’ll tell the greatest jocular whopper

While savings, socked away, do dissipate.

Come one, come all! There’s plenty o’ nothing

To split with the commoners and natives

Like former landings subtly surprising,

Knocked off tribes to make way for creatives.

Welcome, huddled masses, newly attuned!

Have you thought about settling on the moon?

Signed,

DHS, TSA, CIA, FBI, NSA, HUD, USA, . . .

Thomas Quitzau grew up in the Gulf Coast region and worked for over 30 years in Houston, Texas. A self-ascribed member of the ZenJourno School of poetry, Tom recently relocated with his family to Long Island, New York where he teaches and writes.