Where I’m From

I saw this idea on Kathi’s blog over here at Simply Memories and Musings. I loved her poem so much, I thought I’d try my own. If you’d like to try it out, click HERE for the template. Thanks so much to her for the inspiration!

 

I am from old-winged back chairs and painted globes, the U.S.S.R. still etched across them, from Folgers and sunlight.

I am from the cherry tree house, the mornings on my mother’s lap, the lullaby in her voice, the fish in the pond, and from skylights, the apartments and addresses forgotten.

I am from the red geraniums my mother potted every spring, the roses left untended, the swing set in the park and long, slow afternoons under trees too high to climb.


I am from Swedish stock and Irish pluck and Canadian innovation, from Hodgemans and St. George’s and Floodbergs and O’ Briens, from a knight who slayed a dragon, a patriot at the Alamo, from Bible translators held hostage. I am from soldiers and sailors and schoolteachers.

I am from the well-read, from the whispers of a hundred libraries, from bad puns and hearty laughter.
From wishing in one hand and spitting in the other, from hard work good for the soul.

I am from a love for God, from Sunday morning pews, nose pressed to dusty hymnals and in between the pages of my mother’s leather Bible.


I'm from Seoul, South Korea and from Texas and California, from rice pudding and baking bread and cinnamon apples.


From the grandmother who beat Lyndon J. in a spelling bee, the grandfather who crossed the ocean in baby clothes, and the brother who crossed the ocean in a uniform.


I am from my father’s croon, my mother’s laugh-till-she-cried, the sick-sweet smell of airplane exhaust, the comfort of my brother’s baby cheek, the ground below us fading, always fading as we rise. 


Write your own “Where I’m From” poem with this template.


What about you? Where are you from?
love, elizabeth