Repost from PI: Poets and Borders

Forum: Poets and Borders

Editor’s Note: On January 25, 2017 Donald Trump signed an executive order for the construction of the border wall. As many of us protest against yet another thoughtless act of Trump’s presidency, it might be useful to ask: what is border life? What does citizenship mean today? What is language of the border? This forum began as a series of private letters between poets who live on US/Mexico Border as well as those who have traveled far and wide; as the conversation grew, others were invited to share their perspectives. For the sake of space and overall cohesion, several responses have been edited and/or condensed.
History of poetry is a history of border crossings. We learn our craft from banished poets (Ovid, Dante, Milosz, Tsvetaeva, Bei Dao, Darwish, etc.), from poets who spent years of their lives on both sides of borders, or within prison walls…