A Reading of Three Poems / Genny Lim

Genny Lim is a native San Francisco poet, playwright, performer, and educator. She is the author of three poetry collections and the award-winning play Paper Angels, about Chinese immigrants detained on Angel Island. She is also the co-author of Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940, 2nd edition.

On May 4, 2019, Genny Lim participated in a live performance of Cover the Walls, for the Bay Area Book Festival. Cover the Walls is an original work from composer Ursula Kwong--Brown that was inspired by the poems of Angel Island’s detention barracks.

Further readings by Genny Lim can be found here.

Poem 38

Over a hundred poems are on the walls.
Looking at them, they are all pining at the delayed progress.
What can one sad person say to another?
Unfortunate travelers everywhere wish to commiserate.
Gain or lose, how is one to know what is predestined?
Rich or poor, who is to say it is not the will of Heaven?
Why should one complain if he is detained and imprisoned here?
From ancient times, heroes often were the first ones to face adversity.

Poem 102

I have lingered here three days, moving again and again.
It is difficult to compare this to the peacefulness at home.
Life need not be demeaning.
Rushing about so much, smoke came out of my mouth.

Poem 110

A thousand sorrows and a ten-thousand-fold hatred burn between my brows.
Hoping to step ashore on the American continent is the most difficult of difficulties
The barbarians imprison me in this place.
Even a martyr or a hero would change countenance.

 
AIISF's Voices of Resilience, curated by Russell Nauman, Operations Manager and Edward Tepporn, Executive Director, 2020.

Poems were translated and published in Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung’s book, Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940, 2nd edition (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2014).

Cover the Walls * Genny Lim * Angel Island Poems was recorded during a live performance of Ursula Kwong-Brown’s Cover the Walls with the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, 2019.