Where I'm from
Through a series of links I can't begin to reconstruct, I came across a nice blog the other day called Fragments ~ from Floyd. It's pretty creative stuff. One post from last week particularly caught my attention. It was called Where are you from?. In it, blogger Fred (Floyd is the Virginia county where Fred lives) links to a beautiful and touching poem called Where I'm From by George Ella Lyons, then issues a challenge/assignment for readers to write similar poems based on their own experience and background. In his post, he even helps out with a sort of fill-in-the-blank guideline/template to help out the non- and timidly-poetic among us.
I wrote my own and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Where Curt's From
I am from books,
from teddy bears and little red wagons.
I am from the oil-covered roads in the sandbox.
I am from the honeysuckle bush,
from the bois d'arc
and its sticky, brainy fruit.
I am from hunters, from farmers, from storytellers and singers,
from Joe, and J.C., and Curtis, who (I) never knew.
I'm of the frigid feet, the weak eyes, and the strong heart.
I'm of the doodle, june, and lightning bugs.
I am from the snake snapper and the road builder,
from peanut butter crackers and chocolate-covered pretzels.
I am from washer pitchers, rocket launchers, and arms that emanated infinite love.
I am from treasure chests, from toy barrels, from loving kitchens,
and from sloping yards and vibrant trees that dropped nuts as well as leaves.
I'd love to see what others can come up with. Check out Fred's template as well as what other people have written. I also would like to encourage you to take some time to write your own and e-mail me with it (happy-at-atimelikethis-dot-net), and let Fred know about it as well (fred1st-at-swva-dot-net). If I get a couple of these poems from readers, I'll set up a special page and post them here on this site.
