after Hala Alyan; after Yumeng He

1 “Angel Island State Park, the largest natural island in the San Francisco Bay, offers some of the best views of the surrounding Bay Area. With great hiking trails, historic buildings, and many other recreational opportunities readily available, Angel Island is truly a hidden gem in the midst of the urban Bay Area.” —California State Parks (.gov)

2 Sample questions that were asked during immigration interviews on Angel Island: “How many steps are there leading to your attic? Who lived in the third house in the second row of houses in your village? How many guests were at your wedding?” (Lai et al., 18). Coaching notes, hidden within banana peels and orange rinds, were smuggled to detainees to aid them during the interview processes. One set of coaching notes and village map, snuck inside a banana, are now archived at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. This poem references histories from the book Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910–1940, by Him Mark Lai, Genny Lim, and Judy Yung, from the University of Washington Press (1991).

This piece is part of the Summer 2026 issue.