where I am from

I am from a yellow cat sleeping on a porch
and from a white-haired woman in a faded bonnet
tending a garden of hollyhocks and flags.
I am from butterflies dancing in the sunlight.

I am from the sand and the grassburrs,
and from a forest of blackjacks and post oaks
hard as cast iron.

I am from pinto beans and cornbread.
I am from the cotton fields and the pea patch,
from quilts made of feedsacks and dress scraps
and from pallets laid on bare floors for sleeping.

I am from blackland farmers and schoolteachers
and from an uncle killed in a war.
I am from a cedar chest filled with packets of letters,
faded Kodak prints, newspaper clippings, and crayon drawings.

I am from a church built of cypress planks
hauled across the prairie on a horsecart.
I am from sweet-smelling roses and wildflowers
blooming in an overgrown graveyard at the end of a narrow road.

Another post inspired by Fred. This and the ones at his site are modeled after a poem by George Ella Lyons.

Comments (5)

  1. Mary Lou wrote::

    Did you write that? It is lovely!!!

    Tuesday, November 18, 2003 at 12:55 am #
  2. Joel wrote::

    Fred’s been reading “Poemcrazy” I see. ;)

    Tuesday, November 18, 2003 at 2:13 am #
  3. Dan wrote::

    One of the best!

    Wednesday, November 19, 2003 at 3:10 pm #
  4. anonymous wrote::

    I didn’t acctually read this…because I’m looking for info on this poet. It’s said that he killed someone a long time ago;-(…You don’t believe me?It’s true…

    Wednesday, January 7, 2004 at 7:32 pm #
  5. Anonymous wrote::

    What a NICE poem!

    Wednesday, January 7, 2004 at 7:32 pm #

Trackbacks/Pingbacks (2)

  1. Laughing ~ Knees on Friday, November 21, 2003 at 10:44 am

    Nature Boy

    Fred from Fragments From Floyd first made the call to people to try their hand at this exercise, an expression, in verse, of your orig…

  2. Laughing ~ Knees on Friday, November 21, 2003 at 10:57 am

    Nature Boy

    Fred from Fragments From Floyd first made the call to people to try their hand at this exercise, an expression, in verse, of your orig…