W8 Part A Reading Notes Poems of Angel Island and Chinatown

Reading notes are from Four poems from Chinese Immigrants, pg 354-355


Poem 1

• Hundreds of poems on a wall, I wonder if it’s early graffiti or just writings glued on, or maybe just scribbles, or metaphoric.
• All of the poems are about the struggle to come into San Francisco, it must be scary knowing your relatives are so close, yet so far
• The questioning of why bother complaining is strong, they know it will not work, so they will just keep trying instead

Poem 2

• This poem is very quick in tempo, I feel like it adds on to that feeling of the clock ticking away for the immigrants
• Oh, I was expecting for her to be waiting to gain access in to see family, like the other immigrant poems we read, but rather it’s one waiting on her husband who we have no idea what has happened to him. That’s really sad.

Poem 3

• The face description sounds very like someone who is jaundiced. 
• The waist description adds on to that sickly appearance look as well. 
• A wealthy Asian immigrant? Or is it someone else criticising Americans? The sickly man is wealthy and that’s all we know. 
• Who is King Yimlo? Is this a translation issue, since I can not find anything about him? Is it another embodiment of Satan?

Poem 4

• Oh, finally a more upbeat Chinese culture based poem! 
• A pleasant day in San Francisco it seems like, perfect for the New Years
• Even though this is probably before the large festivities in the city, I enjoy how the town folks are still very celebratory and homely to all the neighbors 
• It’s a really joyous poem and makes you wish you could see the early times of the New Years celebration or a more family orientated one, other than the large one we see now. It must be fun and enjoyable.