Exhibit C: Poems by Students
at Junior High School 190
Queens, New York
Teachers: Michael Pezone and Joseph Spero
My Beloved America
by Manana Kull
Here I stand upon American ground,
My dream came true you can say,
Yet now a helpless nightmare.
There are so many opportunities out there,
Yet they were not meant for me.
I dreamt for so many years to be where I am today,
But how would I go back?
Adapting is completely devastating,
It's as if I have to change myself to be considered normal.
How can this be?
I'm in America and I'm in despair.
The language is not what troubles my aching soul,
It is the style in which people live.
Do I have to change myself to be accepted?
It this my beloved America?
Immigration
by Shweta Jain
Fly away, fly away to the land of my dreams, America
Fly away from all these problems.
Fly away to be a man of my will.
Flew away, I flew away to the land of my dreams, America
Flew away from the freshness of my homeland,
Flew away from the freedom and goodness of my land.
Trapped, trapped in the problems of a cruel, cruel, America
Trapped in my own dream for an eternity.
Trapped to be miserable forever.
Lines of Hope
by Kristin London
They came in fear, they came to find peace,
They came to escape tyranny, as well as poverty.
They expected to find streets paved with gold,
and an abundance of jobs, as well as escape the ignorance of the weak.
They came to find help, expecting to be embraced with open arms,
But they weren't.
From the poor, dirty, overcrowded areas of the world they flowed,
Only to come to another overpopulated place where comfort and support were scarce.
The place where they expected to fulfill their dreams,
The place which they traveled to with only hope in their breasts,
Looked at them with a cold, cynical eye and accepted them,
Almost reluctantly.
From there they struggled and strove,
And came to the conclusion that AMERICA was not the land where fantasies thrived.
It was the land where reality lived.
I'm an Immigrant
by Florentine Ignat
I'm an immigrant
I'm proud.
I speak another language
I believe that's good.
You and I differ
But we are alike.
The skin is different
But our hobbies are the same.
So why are you treating me
Like I'm from another universe?
Without Immigrants, What Would We Eat?
by Frances Zemel
Pizza, pasta, rice
French fries, tacos, burritos,
Egg rolls and cardamom fudge,
Soufflés, compote, corn bread,
Curried pork and pot roast,
Egg plant salad and a sea food paella,
The gingerbread boy and pudding
Lasagna and spaghetti . . . .
Without immigrants, what would we eat?
Statue of Liberty
by Asif Hirani
The Statue of Liberty is by and far
It is huge and strong
It is in the ocean on a small island
Everybody goes to visit there because the Statue of Liberty is the best
The population is very high
Everybody says the Statue of Liberty is the bomb.
Every summer all the people go to see the Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty has power, but also has a lot of justice.
Lots of homeless people live there
They also love to take pictures
Everybody hopes they could live near the Statue of Liberty.
It rules man.
For the Statue of Liberty
by Michael Wu
What you write is really true
People come for something good.
Give your love to everyone
The next Utopia is coming fast.
Answers to the Liberty Poem
by Lilya Belik
I agree with what you say.
I saw the golden light you hold.
I came here first.
It's hard and now I have a better life.
You took me in and helped me out.
I live the life I never lived before.
And now I'm more grateful than before.
Change America
by Andrew Alishaev
America has power but no justice.
They don't want to hear the truth.
They want to hear lies.
They like to see innocent people suffer.
So we have to stand up for justice and change America.
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