Two Countries

I chose this poem because I think that she subliminally displays the hardships she has had to face throughout the course of her life. I think the analogy of skin is meant to depict herself, because she believes that people don't look past her skin, and get to know her, besides the fact that she is middle eastern.  The poem also analogizes a feather, which i think represents her culture that her family had followed so strongly in the middle east. I think that the feather falling off of the bird represents that when she came to America, her culture had been "plucked" away from her, and that she had no choice but to let it remain in the middle east, for the most part.  I think that when she states that the feather had been, "swept away by someone who never saw it was a feather," is her way of saying that most people do not take the time to learn about her culture before sweeping it away into a pile of prejudice.  I think that this poem is a good generalization of her thoughts on living in America, and the people she has encountered on her journey.  Toward the end of the poem, she says that "Even when skin is not alone, it remembers being alone and thanks something larger, that there are travelers, that people go places larger than themseleves."  I believe that this is her embracing other people who have been foreigners in a country to promote the well being of foreigners, and for the inhabitants to embrace them and get to know them