“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian: A Critical Analysis

◆ Theme 1: Bureaucracy, Waiting, and Institutional Fatigue

“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian foregrounds the dehumanizing experience of bureaucracy as a defining condition of immigrant life, particularly through images of prolonged waiting, physical strain, and relentless documentation. The opening references to “long lines,” weary limbs, and cumbersome paperwork transform administrative routines into embodied suffering, revealing how institutions regulate not only movement but also endurance and patience. These bureaucratic spaces are depicted as emotionally sterile and morally indifferent, requiring compliance while offering no recognition of human vulnerability. The poem’s prayerful voice does not rage against these systems; instead, it exposes their cruelty through compassion, asking for patience on behalf of those who must submit to them. This restrained tone intensifies the critique, as it highlights the imbalance between institutional power and individual fragility. Ultimately, bureaucracy emerges as an invisible yet pervasive force that delays belonging and compels immigrants to survive in states of suspension.

■ Theme 2: Memory and the Idealized Homeland

“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian presents memory as an emotional sanctuary that counters the alienation of displacement. Through luminous images of the “cobalt Mediterranean” and verdant valleys filled with vineyards and sheep, the poet constructs an idealized homeland rooted in sensory richness and cultural continuity. These recollections are not mere nostalgia; they function as psychological sustenance that enables immigrants to endure present hardship. The remembered landscapes stand in stark contrast to the impersonal environments of immigration offices, thereby intensifying the sense of loss that accompanies exile. Memory in the poem is collective rather than private, encompassing shared sights, sounds, and domestic practices that affirm identity. By praying for the preservation of such memories, Bedikian underscores their vulnerability in the face of assimilation and bureaucratic erasure. Thus, memory becomes both an act of resistance and a means of emotional survival.

▲ Theme 3: Language, Alienation, and the Search for Belonging

“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian explores linguistic alienation as a profound barrier to belonging, particularly through the simile that compares unfamiliar speech to the “buzz of beehives.” This image captures the overwhelming noise and incomprehensibility faced by immigrants navigating new social environments, where language fails to offer connection. However, the poem shifts from this dissonance toward the remembered “music of home,” suggesting that belonging is anchored in emotional familiarity rather than linguistic mastery alone. Songs sung from balconies and communal sounds replace bureaucratic speech, evoking intimacy, warmth, and shared cultural memory. Through this contrast, Bedikian demonstrates how language can both estrange and sustain, depending on context. The prayer seeks not dominance over a foreign tongue but inner coherence amid confusion. In this way, the poem reimagines belonging as affective recognition rather than institutional acceptance.

★ Theme 4: Faith, Survival, and Gratitude after Arrival

“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian culminates in a spiritual reflection on survival, where faith intertwines with memory, endurance, and gratitude. The image of worry beads held alongside a lit cigarette encapsulates the tension between spiritual devotion and human frailty, suggesting that faith persists amid anxiety and imperfection. The recollection of the first step onto “solid land” elevates arrival into a symbolic rebirth following an epic journey across ocean, air, and clouds. The emotional climax emerges in the remembered phone call home—“We arrived… thank God we made it”—which fuses relief, gratitude, and communal affirmation. The concluding declaration, “we are here,” affirms presence itself as triumph. Rather than celebrating success, the poem honors survival, presenting faith as a quiet but sustaining force that sanctifies endurance.

◆ Critical Question 1: How does the poem critique immigration systems without overt political argument?

“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian critiques immigration systems indirectly by foregrounding the embodied and emotional consequences of bureaucracy rather than naming policies or institutions explicitly. The poem’s focus on waiting, fatigue, and repetitive paperwork exposes how administrative processes dehumanize individuals by reducing them to documents and queues. By adopting the form of a prayer, Bedikian avoids polemical language and instead appeals to empathy, positioning institutional cruelty as something that must be endured rather than confronted directly. This stylistic choice is significant because it reveals how power operates quietly, through delay and exhaustion rather than visible violence. The absence of overt political rhetoric intensifies the critique, as readers are invited to witness suffering as ordinary and normalized. The poem’s restrained tone mirrors the powerlessness of immigrants themselves, thereby transforming personal vulnerability into an implicit condemnation of systems that demand patience while withholding dignity and recognition.

■ Critical Question 2: What role does memory play in sustaining immigrant identity in the poem?

“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian presents memory as a crucial mechanism for preserving identity amid displacement and institutional alienation. Recollections of the “cobalt Mediterranean” and fertile valleys function as emotional anchors that reconnect immigrants to a coherent sense of self rooted in place, culture, and communal life. These memories are not passive recollections but active sources of resilience that counteract the erasure produced by bureaucratic processes and linguistic marginalization. By invoking vivid sensory details, the poem suggests that memory preserves what official systems cannot acknowledge—heritage, intimacy, and belonging. Importantly, memory in the poem is collective rather than individual, encompassing shared landscapes, sounds, and domestic rituals that affirm continuity across generations. The prayerful plea to “help them recall” underscores the fragility of these memories under the pressures of assimilation. Thus, memory becomes an act of resistance against forgetting and a means of psychological survival.

▲ Critical Question 3: How does the poem represent language as both alienating and sustaining?

“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian portrays language as a double-edged force that simultaneously isolates and comforts immigrants. The simile comparing unfamiliar speech to the “buzz of beehives” conveys the overwhelming and dehumanizing experience of linguistic incomprehension, where words lose meaning and become indistinct noise. This depiction highlights how language can exclude immigrants from social participation, reinforcing their sense of invisibility. However, the poem counters this alienation by invoking the remembered “music of home,” sung from balconies and embedded in communal life. Here, language is intimate, rhythmic, and emotionally resonant, offering solace rather than confusion. Through this contrast, Bedikian suggests that belonging is not solely dependent on mastering a dominant language but on retaining affective connections to one’s own linguistic and cultural world. Language, therefore, becomes both a barrier imposed by exile and a sustaining force preserved through memory.

★ Critical Question 4: In what ways does faith function as a coping mechanism rather than a doctrinal solution?

“Prayer for My Immigrant Relatives” by Lory Bedikian presents faith not as a rigid system of belief but as a flexible, human coping mechanism that coexists with anxiety, habit, and imperfection. The image of worry beads held in one hand and a cigarette in the other captures this complexity, suggesting that spiritual reliance operates alongside worldly comforts and nervous habits. Faith in the poem does not promise resolution or justice; instead, it offers emotional endurance during moments of uncertainty and fear. The remembered phone call home—“thank God we made it”—illustrates faith as spontaneous gratitude rather than formal doctrine, emerging naturally from survival rather than ritual obligation. By framing the poem as a prayer, Bedikian emphasizes faith’s role in articulating vulnerability and hope when control is absent. Ultimately, faith functions as a quiet affirmation of survival, sanctifying endurance rather than overcoming hardship.

Books

• Bedikian, Lory. The Book of Lamenting. Anhinga Press, 2011.
• Said, Edward W. Reflections on Exile and Other Essays. Harvard University Press, 2000.
  
  

Academic Articles

• Brah, Avtar. “Diaspora, Border and Transnational Identities.” Feminist Review, no. 55, 1996, pp. 68–88. JSTOR,
  https://www.jstor.org/stable/1395615
  
  
• Ahmed, Sara. “Home and Away: Narratives of Migration and Estrangement.” International Journal of Cultural Studies, vol. 2, no. 3, 1999, pp. 329–347, SAGE Journals,
  https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/136787799900200303
  

Poem / Poetry Websites

• Poetry Foundation. “Immigration and Refugee Experience.” Poetry Foundation,
  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/collections/146351/immigration-and-refugee-experience
• Academy of American Poets. “Poems About Immigration.” Poets.org,
  https://poets.org/collection/poems-about-immigration