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Poetry Second Prize

Mennonite Border Crossing: Bridge of the Americas,
El Paso, Texas
ABIGAIL CARL-KLASSEN
Independent Researcher

Leife, in the passenger seat, blank, as the border guard

shuffled through my papers. Tapping his boot against
the asphalt, the officer looked up, stopped rustling,
and repeated. Sir, state your nationality and present
your papers. Leife inhaled and pursed his lips. Our eyes
met for a moment before the guard, reclining against
the side mirror, inched down his sunglasses and seized
the window molding in his fist. Sir, I need you to comply
with my directions. I turned to Leife. A couple Plautdietsch
syllables escaped before the guard hissed, I didnt ask
youyoure already cleared for transit to Canada unless
you keep talking. Hands shaking, Leife unzipped the duffel
in his lap, Ziploc stuffed with documents crackling. Why
didnt you give me these before? He cant speak English,
I spluttered. Its his first time crossing the border. He needs
someone who can speak Spanish. Spanish? He tightened
his eyes at Leife. Sure as hell doesnt look like it. >Hable Ud.
Espa~ nol? The guard snapped over my seatbelt. Leife nodded,
S, me llamo Levi Martens Friesen y soy deraising his arm
the officer cut him off. Abre la cahuela! Le dije, abre
la cahuela! The Ziploc smashed against the steering wheel
plastic grazing my wrist as Leife begged, Por fa, el no
habla Espa~ nol. You dont speak Spanish? What are you
doing in a car together if he only speaks Spanish and you
only speak English? Pull over. Get out. Both of you.

Ethnographic Statement This poem is a selection from my anthropoetic project

Pressing Seams, which explores the experiences of Plautdietsch (Low-German)
speaking Old Colony Mennonites living in settlements near Seminole, Texas, and
Cuauhtemoc, Chihuahua, Mexico. My research takes place in my childhood home
Seminole, Texas, Old Colony Mennonite villages (Darpe) in Northern Mexico, and
the along the U.S.-Mexico border where Old Colony Mennonites frequently cross in

Anthropology and Humanism, Vol. 42, Issue 1, pp 113114, ISSN 1559-9167, online ISSN 1548-1409.
C 2017 by the American Anthropological Association. All rights reserved.
V
DOI: 10.1111/anhu.12170.
114 Anthropology and Humanism Volume 42, Number 1

order to move between settlements in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. While
I ate Faspa, a small traditional meal between lunch and dinner, at the homes of my
Mennonite friends and cracked zoot (sunflower seeds) on the back porch, their
parents shared childhood memories and coming of age stories from the years they
spent living in separatist Old Colony communities in Mexico. I listened as they
told tales of rebellion, addiction, hardship, and exile, as well as, stories of family,
friendship, and self-realization that were full of joy and laughter. Though my
research has its origins in tableside narrative inquiry, it continues to grow, and I
have begun to explore macro anthropological issues, particularly, transnational
migration and identity, as is revealed in Mennonite Border Crossing. The juxta-
position of experiences of Old Colony individuals and communities across time and
geographical and metaphorical borders, through poetic form, creates liminal spaces
that seek to explore, understand, and embody the socio-political, religious, and ideo-
logical discourses that shape Old Colony Mennonite communities, both internally
and externally, in a globalized world.