Cover design by Wang Ping, Jesse Katzman, and K. Sobanja at Ava Creative. Cover photograph by Tom Wallace.

- Excerpt
- Ordering Information

MY NAME IS IMMIGRANT

This book of poetry is a song for the plight and pride of immigrants around the globe, including the U.S., China, Syria, Honduras, Guatemala, Nepal, Tibet and other places. Whether they pull up their roots to flee war, the rising sea or drought, for religious freedom and freedom of speech, or simply to seek a better life, immigrants are the frontiers of civilization. They are a force of nature, like salmon, monarchs, trees, water, and mountains, moving with rivers, the earth and universe. Migration is the signature of life - no immigrants, no economy; no immigration, no civilization; no migration, no life. We are all immigrants.

"Wang Ping has had a fascinating life between China and the United States. Meeting her for the first time in person was an impressive experience and my admiration for her only grew. Her work with rivers and with other aspects of the landscape is totally refreshing, and her broad intelligence, delightful political wit and poetic vision expands understanding of the American nation." - Gary Snyder, Pulitzer Prize winner

"The poem 'Immigrant Can’t Write Poetry' renders a moving argument about language and expression, and about the freedom poetry sometimes claims, the freedom to speak in ways that are obedient to the urgencies and irregularities of life... it's moving, and on the surface, simple, and it reminds me that what all poems are truly in search of sits outside the words." - Tracy K. Smith, U.S. Poet Laureate

"Bleeding dreams and hungry ghosts move about Wang Ping's latest collection, building up deposits of rage, shame and sometimes mercy. Her truth telling emerges from a deep well, describing the movement of people and the stories, the hope, and the desire they carry with them across deserts and oceans, over walls and through every barrier. The age-old question remains, with sharp clarity in these pages - who among us decides who is allowed in, accepted, celebrated?" - M.L. Smoker, Montana Co-Poet Laureate