Where I'm From

I've seen this batted around a few places for several years and have always meant to sit down and write my own, and am finally getting around to it. You can read the background and see the template here. Try it- it's very fun to do!

Where I'm From

I am from one way streets, from Dr. K and my mother's apple dumplings.

I am from the shotgun houses, close and long, the porches filled with music and laughter.

I am from the flaming Cosmos, the Clematis Will Goodwin, the honeysuckle hugging the porch tightly.

I am from Sunday naps and watching "the Crusade", from Mattie and Hattie and the Singletons and Miltons of Devils Hollow Hill.

I am from busy hands, the crochet hook and the cows that need milking and the meals that need to be served. I am from the tapping of the Morse code and the hands that kept the machine running, smoothly and slowly.

From a welcome table where it's better to have too much than not enough and if your left hand itches, somebody's coming with a hole in their britches.

I am from a warm and tender place where requesting #17 at the Sunday night hymn sing always brought an honest measure of Amazing Grace, and from a scrappy storefront that is all things fair and subversive and all love.

I am from infant baptism and ritual and God's hands and feet so present that I could do nothing but trust God's heart.

I'm from Eastwood and Clifton Heights, apple pie with caramel on top and corn- oh, the corn!

I'm from my sister singing Down In The Boondocks and Mean Pills and Michael Row Your Boat Ashore.

I am from Eastwood Christian Church and Aunt Margaret's farm, from Christmas dinners where the men ate first, and I am from Phoenix Hill, a litany of call and response as I walk the block and call the names of all who live there.

I am from deep roots and big wide branches, and I have become where my children come from.