I am from followspots,

From theater chairs and marley floors.

I am from the bright orange fridge, almost neon

I am from the California evergreens,

the community lake with the all day all night party and the saturday morning drum circles

I am from shabbos

and big noses,

from Piro Shalom

And the hippie revolution

I am from the impulsivity

and music.

From “making plans for nigel”

and “brick house”

I am from the 4 hour seder every spring

But not from the temple

I’m from Oakland and from a lost ancestry

Never discussed

Street tacos and strong coffee

From the oregon communes in 1969,

the the acid and the grateful dead and the Janis Joplin as God,

and the protest arrests with Joan Baez and a different husband each time.

I am from that bright orange, almost neon fridge

With my two brothers and my sister

And my grandfather who passed 

smiling at us with a pipe in his mouth and a beer in his hand

At his happiest