Merridawn Duckler


Self-portrait of Me as My Grandfather Arriving in America


I, aged, years, occupation, do declare on oath that my physical description is,

height, weight, hair color, color of eyes, other visible distinctive marks,

I was born, on the day of, anno Domini, I now reside at, I emigrated to the United States of
America on the vessel, my last foreign residence was, I am married, the name of my, was born
and now resides,

I, my bona fide intention to renounce forever all allegiance and fidelity to any prince potent state
or sovereignty and particularly to of whom I am now a subject,

I arrived at the port of, in the state of, on or about day of in the year anno Domini, I am not an
anarchist, I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy,

I, my intention in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to
permanently reside therein

I, SO HELP ME GOD subscribed and sworn to before me in the office of the clerk of said court
this day of


my orphaning, my dispersal

Merridawn Duckler is a writer from Oregon and the author of three chapbooks, most recently MISSPENT YOUTH (rinky dink press). New work can be read in Seneca Review, Mother Egg Review, Plume, and Painted Bride Quarterly. She won the Beulah Rose Poetry Contest from Smartish Pace. She’s an editor at Narrative and the philosophy journal Evental Aesthetics.

ISSN 2472-338X
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