Short Manual for Immigrant Survival

There's so much stuff
in the closets; in the pantry;
in storage. We don't know why
but no one can throw anything
away. Or we do: because
immigrants don't like to waste
anything. Think of all 
the thrift and weird 
love that went into each. 
The buckle for instance.
It can be saved even if the leather 
has split and cracked. The meals
cooked so you can eat practically
every part of the animal. And who
doesn't love the glossy, gold-printed
sheets of gift wrap you could trim
around the edges where plastic 
tape won't come off clean? Feed 
the rice water to the baby. Plant  
teeth of garlic, eyes that bulge 
out of the sides of purple spuds
and straw-colored ginger root: 
one day soon you'll lift an army 
of them out of the soil.