Ordinance on Arrival -- Naomi Lazard

Guest poem sent in by Salima Virani

(Poem #1312) Ordinance on Arrival Welcome to you who have managed to get here. It's been a terrible trip; you should be happy you have survived it. Statistics prove that not many do. You would like a bath, a hot meal, a good night's sleep. Some of you need medical attention. None of this is available. These things have always been in short supply; now they are impossible to obtain. This is not a temporary situation. Our condolences on your disappointment. It is not our responsibility everything you have heard about this place is false. It is not our fault you have been deceived, ruined your health getting here. For reasons beyond our control there is no vehicle out. -- Naomi Lazard

I only recently found out that recent south asian immigrants into Toronto
are called "FOBs" or "Refs" by the first or second generation south asians
who live here.  FOBs means "Fresh off the boats" and Refs means "Refugees".
It does not matter if you came into Canada under the independent category of
skilled labour.  If you have the slightest trace of an Indian accent and,
particularly, if you're struggling as a new immigrant consider yourself a
FOB.

While I am angered by this for various reasons, I find that this poem by
Naomi Lazard which actually alludes specifically to the FOBs (be they from
Vietnam, India or wherever!) really does apply to so many recent immigrants,
the skilled workers - the ones that have not crossed borders and entered
into this country unlawfully (in boats) or pleaded sanctuary as refugees.

When I read this poem, I am reminded of scenes from Bombay, of long lines of
people with their hopeful faces before the US consulate in Breach Candy or
at the visiting Canadian Consulate at Nariman Point.  So many people, from
all over India, who left behind their country with a dream of making it big
in the west.  People who dreamed of having a bright future here for
themselves and their children.

I see these faces now, in Toronto.  It is always a humbling experience.
They drive me home in their cabs or fill gas in my car at full service gas
stations.  Some serve me meals at restaurants and some have cleaned my room
at the Convention Centre hotels where I am attending conferences.  They are
really no different from me.  Had it not been for the financial stability
and support I had from friends and family (on my own arrival into Canada) I
could just as easily have been one of them.   They see a fellow south asian
and we break into conversation.  It does not shock me anymore when they tell
me that they used to be  Civil Engineers, Professors, even Doctors 'back
home'.  These are the people who got lost in the conundrums of
accreditation and gaining "Canadian experience" and succumbed to finding
other ways to make a living.  They came here with only a few hundred dollars
and did not have the financial ability to go back to school and retrain.
It's most challenging when they arrive here with a family.  Accreditation is
a luxury they can ill afford when bills have to be paid and mouths have to
be fed.

And I wonder if they now feel betrayed.  I wonder if it they absolve the
Canadian Government for all the lovely brochures that it prints praising the
life in Canada, when all that they hear after their arrival into Canada is
exactly this:

Our condolences on your disappointment.
It is not our responsibility
everything you have heard about this place
is false. It is not our fault
you have been deceived,
ruined your health getting here.

I know that for these people there is a vehicle out - they could go back to
their homes and professions.  But, every one of them has always given me the
same reason for staying here.  "Our kids will have a better future here and
they will have a better life here.  We're staying here for them".

A bit ironic then, isn't it, that these very kids will grow up and mock
people just like their parents by giving them derogatory terms of reference
like "FOBs" and "REFs"?

- Salima

Bio on Naomi Lazard

Naomi Lazard is more popular for her translations of poems by Faiz Ahmed
Faiz than she is for her own poetry.   Her own poems have appeared in the
American Poetry Review, the Nation, Haroers, the New Yorker. She is author
of several collections of poetry: The Moonlight Upper Deckerina (Sheepmeadow
Press, 1977); Cry of the Peacocks (Harcourt Brace, 1975 ) and Ordinances
(Ardis).

PS: I don't really know anything more about her - perhaps google would help
those who want to know more.