Where I’m From

 

 

MsBurtonIsFrom...

Where I’m From
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.

I’m from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I’m from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I’m from He restoreth my soul
with a cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.

I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.

Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments–
snapped before I budded —
leaf-fall from the family tree.

“Where I’m From” grew out of my response to a poem from Stories I Ain’t Told Nobody Yet (Orchard Books, 1989; Theater Communications Group, 1991) by my friend, Tennessee writer Jo Carson. All of the People Pieces, as Jo calls them, are based on things folks actually said,

CREATE your own version of the poem

I am from _________ (an everyday item in your home)
from ________ and ________ (products or everyday items in your home)
I am from the ___________ (description of your home) _________ (a detail about your home a smell, taste, or feel)
I am from the_____ (plant, flower, natural item)
The _______ (plant or tree near your home)
whose long gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I’m from ______ and ______ (a family tradition and family trait)
from _________and ________ (family members)
I’m from _________and _________ (family habits)
and from________. (family habit)
I’m from _________ and __________ (things you were told as a child)
and _______ (a song or saying you learned as a child)
I’m from______ (a family tradition)
I’m from ________ (place of birth) and ______ (family ancestry, nationality or
place)
_______and _____ (family foods)
From _______ (a story about a family member)
_____ (detail about the story or person)
_________ (description of family momentos, pictures or treasures.)
______ (location of momentos under my bed, ______ (more description if needed)

Here is my version

I am from silly smiles and grudging good mornings messages
To sugary sweet hugs at night
From the woods of camping with boy scouts in a black hole
To ballet shoes and leotards with ballerinas who make bars sing.
From barks and meows
To slobbery pants and purrs.

I am from the click, clicks, clicks of my laptop computer
To the tap, tap, tapping as I text on my phone.
From hanging with friends
And staying at home.

Where I from, I exchanged wet splashes with my friends
And spent time lying on a summer beach under the stars discussing trends
From school dances and cheering at basketball games
To making midnight confessions to old flames.

Where I am from I heard “stop whining”, “do your best”

And “Are you sure that you want to wear that?”
Where I am from there are people who care
And people who I know will always be there

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