Tasks: Borderliner by Hannah Lowe

'Borderline' consists of two poems that have been placed side-by-side. These poems can be read either individually or as one poem.

Study the two individual poems first. Then read the poem as a whole to see if you are able to find a new meaning.

The poem that is not in bold print: geographical border crossing

1. Where is Tijuana? What do you associate with this town?

2. Comment on the contrast made between "the rich American boys" and "the veiled woman".

3. Lowe refers to "make-shift rafts bobbing empty of their cargo" over a sea-bed "cross-hatched with bones". What associations do you get from this reference?

4. According to Lowe, are all borders difficult to pass? Is she only referring to geographical borders?

5. Comment on the last two lines:
   "That I’m home on the border doesn’t mean
   I don’t think about who took the world and carved it up".
   What do you think she means by that?
   

The poem that is in bold print: racial border crossing

1. In the first few lines, Lowe writes:
   "border-liner might mean white girls
   with corkscrew hair
   and brown girls with flat hair
   slipping from one side to the other".
   What do you think she refers to here?

2. What does she mean by the following:
   "Ever notice ...
   how some faces have no borders
   no fixed abode?"

3. Read from "You can sketch ..." How do you think she feels about classifying or giving names to people of different races?

4. Comment on the last three lines:
   "it’s only when you are standing
   on the border that you are free
   to look both ways".
   What does she mean by this?

The whole poem: Read the text that is not in bold print together with the text that is in bold print.

1. Hannah Lowe is herself of mixed heritage. After having read both poems, how do you think she feels about standing in between, on the border? You may want to take a look at the last lines in both poems again.

2. Does a new meaning appear for you as you read all of the text together, or does it become more muddled?

3. Why do you think she has placed two poems side by side like this – one about geographical borders and the other about race? What effect does she achieve by doing this?

The term borderliner was once used as a derogatory term denoting someone of mixed-race. In this audio recording, Hanna Lowe explains the title of the poem and describes some of her personal experiences as a mixed-race child.

Link to Writers Mosaic: Borderliner by Hanna Lowe
The website also contains a text version.

Listen until 11:30. Take notes as you listen.

What does she say about:

• her personal experiences as a child

• different terms describing non-white people

• her mixed feelings related to the term borderliner?

Share your thoughts in class.

How do you interpret the final three lines of the second poem?

Use these lines as inspiration for a personal text in one of the following genres:

• short story

• narrative essay

• poem

• diary entry