The Martha's Vineyard Times

White Wave

July 3, 2012

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My father,

an immigrant, named me

for the sea. Not for the great blue shining

eye reflecting its ruler the sky,

nor for the foam lying down

with its white flag on the sand,

but for the wave that persists

in rising, in going forth,

for the hand that wipes the eye,

then lifts the flag.

Jennifer Tseng

Jennifer Tseng has been the Writer-in-Residence at Hampshire College, a Visiting Writer at Colorado College, and has taught Asian American Studies at UCLA. Her book, The Man With My Face, was winner of the Asian American Writers' Workshop's National Poetry Manuscript Competition and a 2006 PEN American Center Beyond Margins Award. Jennifer works at the West Tisbury Library and is poetry editor for Martha's Vineyard Arts & Ideas.

The Martha's Vineyard Times welcomes contributions to Poet's Corner. Dan Waters, former poet laureate of West Tisbury, will select poems to be published here. Submissions should be directed to dan@indianhillpress.com.