Moving and Feeling

囚困木屋天復天，

自由束縛豈堪言？

舉目誰歡惟靜坐，

關心自悶不成眠。

日永樽空愁莫解，

夜長枕冷倩誰憐？

參透箇中孤苦味，

何如歸去學耕田？

Imprisoned in the wooden building day after day,

My freedom withheld; how can I bear to talk about it?

I look to see who is happy but they only sit quietly.

I am anxious and depressed and cannot fall asleep.

The days are long and the bottle constantly empty;

my sad mood, even so, is not dispelled.

Nights are long and the pillow cold; who can pity my loneliness?

After experiencing such loneliness and sorrow,

Why not just return home and learn to plow the fields?

By unknown author (Poem 43 from the walls of Angel Island detention barracks)

Pencil or calligraphy pen & ink

-Take your pen in hand and trace the characters of the poem.

-As you trace, imagine with your body, heart, and soul what feelings the author might have been expressing. Have you ever felt similarly? How so?

-Put your pen and paper down. Walk around the room. Do some physical and vocal warm-ups. Take some deep breaths.

-Read the poem aloud several times, noticing the spoken melodic and rhythmic patterns of your speech. Notice what your favorite lines are. What stands out to you most?

-Choose a gesture for each line. Explore bold, vibrant expressions as well as small, subtle ones. Write or draw the gesture next to the line so you remember. Think about how the gesture relates to the explicit or implicit meaning of the poem and why the chosen gestures might have meaning for you as well.

-Try putting each gesture together into a dance. Can you speak the poem as you move? At this point, whose story do you think this is, yours or the poet, and why?

-Good job, you have put your own moves to a roughly 100 year old poem. Please take some time to reflect on the experience and how it relates to your story.

Adapted from Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation’s “In The Classroom” Curricula

Poem translation from:

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).