refugees ‘r us

i am not a refugee

but my mother and my father were refugees

i am not a refugee and my mother and father were not refugees

but my grandmother and my grandfather were refugees

i am not a refugee and my mother and father and my grandmother and grandfather were not refugees

but my great-grandmother and my great-grandfather were refugees

i am not a refugee and my mother and father and my grandmother and grandfather and my great-grandmother and great-grandfather were not refugees

but my great-great-grandmother and my great-great-grandfather were refugees

how much further shall i peel back the layers of this onion

this tight-packed ball of many skeins of skin

how many more great-greats will pitch me back

into those wars those aridities those deluges those freezings

those seekings that drove my people-roots

my kin

my us

restless for a reason

i move therefore i am

Ted Eames, 2019

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