One of the most persistent stories about America — that it was made by immigrants fleeing "the old country" — is also one of the most incomplete. And since stories shape our perception of reality, poet Colleen McElroy is intent on telling another aspect of America's story in "Crossing Oceans." The poem appears in her most recent collection "Here I Throw Down My Heart" (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012).
McElroy is the author of nine poetry collections and is professor emeritus of English and creative writing at the University of Washington. She has been awarded NEA, Fulbright, Rockefeller and DuPont fellowships, and her work has been translated into Russian, Italian, Arabic, Greek, French, German, Malay and Serbo-Croatian.
She was recorded in the KUOW studios on Feb. 1, 2013.
