APRIL IS POETRY MONTH

SOMEWHERE A TREE

Spring's metamorphosis

Inevitable

Insistent

Somewhere a tree

Sleeping Beauty

Still, awakes

She hesitates

She yearns

She waits, she wants

Her diffidence

Dissolves

Desire undenied

She drops

Her torpid mantel

And

Hope

Springs

Anew

Keep it real! And wear your damn mask!

Marilyn

Comments

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NEW GAME, NEW RULES

Let me set the stage. I am a U.S. citizen and a permanent resident of Germany. In other words, I am an immigrant. That status didn’t happen overnight and it didn’t come easily. When we moved to Italy, it took me five years to convert my visa to a Permesso di Soggiorno. When we subsequently moved to Germany, I had to surrender my Italian residency permit, and it took me another five years to obtain my Daueraufenthaltstitel . In each country, I jumped through the hoops, produced the necessary documents, fulfilled the language requirements, attended the obligatory immigration appointments, paid my fees, didn’t attempt to work until I could do so legally, and counted the days. In short, I respected the process and the law. It has always been crystal clear to me that I live here at the discretion of the German government. If I screw up, they can “ask” me to leave. Therefore, I don’t have much sympathy for people who ju...

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