FICTION & POETRY
Alien of Extraordinary Ability
AUTHOR
AUTHOR
AUTHOR
"Go back to sleep Ms. Chowdhury, the American situation is strange"
Poetry
Dallas
Bangladesh
Diaspora
Immigration
Cultural Narratives of Immigration
Borders
Visa
Alien of Extraordinary Ability
Alienation
Work Authorization
Poetic Form
Particularity
Temporality
Ornamentation
North American Diaspora
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DISPATCH
Poetry
Dallas
13th
Oct
2020
Editors' note: The following is an excerpt from a longer work-in-progress called “Alien of Extraordinary Ability.” The artworks at the beginning and end of the poem are a result of a collaboration between the author and the artist.
Alien of extraordinary ability is an alien classification by United States Citizenship and ______________ Services. The United States may grant a priority visa to an alien who is able to demonstrate “extraordinary ability in the sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics” or through some other extraordinary career achievements. The ________________ version of the classification (EB-1A), which grants permanent residency, additionally requires the alien to demonstrate "sustained national or international acclaim”, “achievements recognized by others in the field of expertise,” and "a level of expertise indicating that the individual is one of that small percentage who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor.”
When one knows thee, then alien there is none, then no door is shut.
—Rabindranath Tagore, Gitanjali
“Why do you want this visa?”
a home. is it here? is it here? is it here?
“Why in this country?”
everyone likes sweet stuff sometimes.
“What are your plans?”
To build a spaceship out
of the years named Solace.
so it is to be born a particular
particle to no particular address on no
particular day of a less-than particular week.
so it is to be star-seer, sin-shelter, flower
named nayantara, a rearview.
so it is that the name∞ You were given
is not the same. nonetheless You are chosen.
so it is to sense in an other
an otherworldly sweetness.
Have we met? You ask. No—
for I am talking to myself. Before You,
Idea. so it is to walk towards a frame
hoping for image vs error . . .
for don’t You want to see Your own
particles pictured in the museum mirrors?
No? Ok.
then forget continuum. be disruption
∞ go back to sleep Ms. Chowdhury, the American situation is strange
but we have not met yet. this is a museum. i am making a list∞
Personal ornaments
Collared disks
Scepters & early imagery
Neolithic axes of the _______________ culture
Blades
Dagger-axes arrowheads & knives
Serrated disks
Ceremonial blades
Serrated and ________________ axes
Handles
Animal heads and masks
Dragons
Fish
Birds
Naturalistic animals
Insects
Surface decoration
Dish with coiled bird & dragon interlacery
Plaque
Shroud∞
∞this is a list to keep thoughts of you at bay
∞so it is to imagine your death. to hold a conversation with your absence:
so good, this gallery, You say—
yes, it is quite the door
to a thousand years ago! cries the Past.
sshhh, begs the Future. let’s watch the wall open . . .
see, we’ll have time for the fields!
see, we’ll consult the sun re the moon!
see, now we’ll “see” other families. our own.
is this a museum or a border? where there
is a border, does there need to be patrol?
“no touching the heart! i mean art!” security cries.
okay, i say, okay. and part the regions of my torso
that is how i learn the guard is blind
to my mockingbird inside.
“now walk towards flowering cherry
and autumn maples,” Mockingbird commands. “do it. alone”
∞idea-You disappears. I leave the museum or linger. i become or engage in:
an etching
window shopping
allusions to the sea
light palette
ewer & basin
I once was and will never again be:
virgin & child
the rape of ____________ by _____________
Are you also trying to understand what it is to be:
a master