Portside

Washington state poet Jed Myers pays homage to the “one who’s left water” for the migrants crossing Arizona deserts facing “liberty or a cage.”

Washington state poet Jed Myers warns we may be hard-wired to fear and hate, but must remember the consequences for humanity.

After nights of fire and looting, the poet Jed Myers asks in “False Flag” the simple question: who is shifting the blame to whom?

Seattle poet Jed Myers puts himself in the shoes of a Mexican father as two men plan to cross international borders.

Seattle poet Jed Myers speaks of the fear of strangers, how our eyes assess and judge newcomers, searching for the glimmer that makes them one of us.

Seattle poet Jed Myers writes about "a man/who’d left his house in rubble, crossed a plain and then a sea, gone north without a plan,/now faced a razor wire fence..." It's a story of upheaval, a refugee, a stalemate, all too familiar this sad saga.

An antidote to anti-immigrant sentiment, Seattle poet Jed Myers generously welcomes newcomers to this nation of immigrants, offering empathy and greeting from our ancestors: "what we’ve secured/only a few breaths before..."