The United States Welcomes You

Smith’s poem has 14 lines, and each line has around 10 syllables. These sonnet-like qualities stand in stark contrast to the content: an interrogation of someone in the United States. Smith’s speaker takes on the persona of an agent of law enforcement systems, and the addressee of the poem (the “you”) is a suspect of one of these. These systems include the police, border patrol, ICE, and homeland security.

The first two lines of the poem are end-stopped: Each contains one question and a question mark concludes each line. Most of the ensuing lines are not end-stopped (do not have a question mark at the end of the line). This increasing use of enjambment (the continuation of a thought from one line to the next without the use of end stop punctuation) shows how the interrogation quickly becomes more complicated: Each question has additional sub-questions, or underlying questions. The initial question—“Why and by whose power were you sent?” (Line 1)—implies that the suspect lacks power and has a questionable motive. Power can mean money, such as covering the costs of travel to the US, but it can also mean control. The suspect being sent by someone else portrays them as both tool and foreigner, despite their actual citizenship.