Where I'm From

My fellow Kentuckian Wendell Berry has voiced the belief that we need to understand our roots to know our place in this world.

"If you don't know where you're from, 

you'll have a hard time saying where you're going." 

~Wendell Berry

The lovely Searcy from Old Southern Garden was the inspiration for a previous post; a post reminiscent of a poem by George Ella Lyon.  

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.

~George Ella Lyon

Now it is your turn.  Here is a template to write your version of Where I'm From and I will post my version at the very bottom.  If you chose to participate, I ask that you link back to this post so that I may visit and enjoy your poem.

I am from _______ (specific ordinary item), from _______ (product name) and _______.

I am from the _______ (home description... adjective, adjective, sensory detail).

I am from the _______ (plant, flower, natural item), the _______ (plant, flower, natural detail)

I am from _______ (family tradition) and _______ (family trait), from _______ (name of family member) and _______ (another family name) and _______ (family name).

I am from the _______ (description of family tendency) and _______ (another one).

From _______ (something you were told as a child) and _______ (another).

I am from (representation of religion, or lack of it). Further description.

I'm from _______ (place of birth and family ancestry), _______ (two food items representing your family).

From the _______ (specific family story about a specific person and detail), the _______ (another detail, and the _______ (another detail about another family member).

I am from _______ (location of family pictures, mementos, archives and several more lines indicating their worth).

Where I'm From

I am from old fruit jars, 

from White Lily and Basse's Choice.

I am from the tall, white porch columns.

( graceful, slender ladies

 cool under the heat

 of a noon day sun.)

I am from the old garden roses, 

the ancient white lilac 

hugging the east garden wall 

in it's lush frilly petticoat beauty.

I am from cream pulled candy and bluest of blue eyes, 

from Lucien and Fairy.

I am from the orators and philosophers.

From mind your manners! and remember your people!

I am from All Things Bright And Beautiful and 

the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.

I'm from Byrd and Duke's line,

corn pone and bourbon.

From the boat ride my grandfather took through the courthouse

 during the 1937 flood,

the dictionary my uncle 

bought as a birthday gift for my mother

before being sent to France during World War II.

In the bottom dresser drawer

folded into a tight triangle,

the flag  given to my grandmother

reminding me of the price that we pay for freedom.

I am from those Second Sons--

pushing through the Cumberland Gap

to put down family roots 

stretching from the Old Dominion

to the Bluegrass.