Alien 2

ALIEN 2 Vaneeta Pakcanda I am reminded again I am an ss number on an H-iB status Which proclaims alien living on bought time Visa expires August 31 —or by any other dateAfter which illegal. I call the college legal advisor 'Alien' I am he reminds me carelessly. Aliens, he says, on an H-I do not have a grace period. In my classes that year my puzzled students attempt not to describe me Brown Skin Woman with Name —woman means my name— An alien passing for a woman I suggest Easing their discomfort Why, a woman ofcolor I don't know. Some laugh Others squirm in their seats, While I create Another teaching moment. [Meridians:/eminism, race, transnationalism 2002, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 274-5]©2002 by Wesleyan University Press. All rights reserved. 274 I honk for Hillary on my way back home. I don't vote. I may be marked for being pro choice, pro gay pro environment and post corporate. I do not know the fear ofthe fifties But this much I know: democracy has its ways: Have you ever been a member ofa totalitarian party? a communist government? a prostitute? on public assistance? a PLO sympathizer? arrested for drugs? Do you carry an additional antibody disease, germ, or virus... Have proofofvaccinations? An alien has States ofadmissibility. Were I an Alien with extraordinary ability This country would immediately Claim me, my kin, and my ability. I killed someone out oflove once In this country There was no blood, no body I buried his memory What ifI had left behind a love Whose history questions Wouldn't uncover? Today in the reign ofpracticed terror I can't reach the border posts to make my way back legally, but I slip through tons ofpaper A clean body, a desirable alien, Eligible for residency. alien 2 275 ...