Create a version of the George Ella Lyon poem, “Where I’m From,” and post it here in our Open Lab site.
Due April 2nd
Here is the original:
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 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.
Here is a template you can use to create your own version:
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).
