Where I’m From poem

List 5 items for each category. Be as detailed as possible : 1.Items found in your home. These should be unique to your home, and could include brand named food or cleaning products, furniture, unique collections, etc. Be as descriptive as you can for each item. 2.Items found in your yard.(Same as above.) 3.Names of relatives, especially ones that link you to the past. 4.Sayings from your family. 5.Places found in your neighborhood. (grocery stores, restaurants, etc.) 6.Names of food and dishes from family gatherings. 7.Family features (high foreheads, bald, big hips). 8.Places where childhood memories are kept.

Poem outline: I am from (#1) from (#1) I am from (#2) (#2) I am from (#1) from (#3) I’m from the (#4) and the (#4) from (#4) I’m from (#4) I’m from (#5) (#6) from the (#7) (#7) (#8)

“Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon 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 dressbox 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 I am from the photo wall, a jungle scene, behind the dining table where the birthday photos were taken. From my mom’s collection of salt and pepper shakers, that we gave her for presents, kept on a shelf in the kitchen. I am from the playhouse with a kitchen stove and a real phone connected to the garage From the giant apricot tree. I could eat fresh apricots all summer. The pool with the Japanese beetles floating at the edge desperate to escape. We would throw my mom in when she came home from work. I am from the Christmas tree with grandma Eleanor’s handmade felt ornaments. Characters from fairy tales. From Grandma Koko I am from homemade apricot pie at the house on Long Valley Road. And Grandpa Sam’s homemade sweet bread. Perfect for thick sliced toast. I am from the ditch with water skippers we would put in the freezer The dirt hills where we road our bikes. From the grade school class pictures with me in the middle taller than all the boys. From 6 feet 8 inches blue eyes blonde hair hips These, pulled from the photos albums in the hall closet and the corners of my mind, I remember as the good times.