will become a pessimist eventually
trying to find what’s lost will ransack the house
the overstayed visa the recipe book
the birth certificate the first passport
nowhere to be found
the immigrant will travel
drive with the windows down stop at the rest stops
always in search trying to find more
of what made you leave because nothing can satisfy
the first time around there is something that pushed you out
this is the horrible secret this is the terrible secret
the immigrant always an immigrant there is no returning
Copyright © 2022 by Aline Mello. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on October 19, 2022, by the Academy of American Poets.