Where I come from

Fred First asks “Where Are You from?” and adds a template to help answer the question . Check out his page and make your own life poem.

Where I’M From by Gary Boyd

I am from books by the dozen that started me dreaming, from Lava Soap and bare feet in summer always dirty.

I am from the Deep South, coastal plains and high clouds; sky as big as the whole of existence; sun and heat, humidity and rain (sometimes at the same time).

I am from the oak, the broad shade of summer; large comforting limbs for imaginary castles: height in a world that lacked hills.

I am from potato soup and corn bread, from Linville’s and Sewell’s and Pearson’s.

I am from the men of shiny skulls and mother hens who ruled the roost.
From Indian Princesses and Sooners (they thought).

I am from Baptist traditions with new age tendencies. Looking to the Far East for a guiding set of principles I am pulled in different ways.

I’m from four generations of Texans coming from North Carolina via many routes, pinto beans and bacon and biscuits.

From the great-grandmother who died too young, the grandfather who didn’t mind the questions I chattered, and the father who was always gone.

I am from the pictures my mother keeps safe, the history I have tracked down in courthouse basements and now pass on to the cousins who care, the old bibles hiding in sock drawers that listed those who came before me who I never knew.

3 thoughts on “Where I come from

  1. I like this, Gary. I hadn’t seen it before. It’s really good and creative and fun. And tells a lot about yourself at the same time.

    1. Hi Kate, I stole this from Fred and I come back every once and a while and see if it still applies. So far I haven’t changed it from the first time I set down to put it together.

      I am glad you liked it.

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