Grandma Ling
Amy Ling
If you dig that hole deep enough,
you’ll reach China, they used to tell me,
a child in a back yard in Pennsylvania.
Not strong enough to dig that hole,
I waited twenty years,
then sailed back, half way around the world.
In Taiwan I first met Grandma.
Before she came to view, I heard
her slippered feet softly measure
the tatami floor with even step;
the aqua paper-covered door slid open
and there I faced
my five foot height, sturdy legs and feet,
square forehead, high cheeks and wide-set eyes;
my image stood before me,
acted on by fifty years.
She smiled, stretched her arms
to take to heart the eldest daughter
of her youngest son a quarter century away.
She spoke a tongue I knew no word of,
and I was sad I could not understand,
but I could hug her.
First Thoughts
1. Briefly describe image that this poem calls to mind.
Shaping Interpretations
2. Write what you think the speaker might be thinking and feeling when she says “my image stood before me, acted on by fifty years” .
3. The speaker in the poem cannot understand her grandmother’s words. Write what you think the grandmother is saying to her granddaughter.
Connecting with the Text
4. Look at the adults around you. Do you see in them any clues about what you might be like when you’re older? Which traits do you hope to share? Which would you like to change?
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