Friday, May 5, 2006

Where I'm From...

I am from barefoot summers, from polly flinders and salt herring on buttered biscuits.
I am from the house by the creek, loud and happy and full of love and children.
I am from the marsh grass, tall and thick, dirt divers and sand fiddlers and junebugs.
I am from Monopoly games that last a whole day out on the backporch and stories that got better each time they were told, from Johnny and Marjorie and Kellam.
I am from the modesty and the pride and the inner battle 'twixt the two.
From Yes Ma'am and always please and always thank you.
I am from One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church in a town full of protestants,
Bingo Night on Wednesday and learning the polka, spaghetti dinners and my best friend Tonya.
I'm from where the Mattaponi and the Pamunkey meet, Sunday dinners prepared all day and sizzling hot chicken legs stolen from beneath a papertowel veil, one for me and one for Daddy.
From Saturday night by the radio, Momma and Daddy dancing with us, singing songs they knew well, the green stamp prizes still there, Saturday afternoon baseball games on a black and white set, loud and lazy, "Who are you rooting for?" "I just like a good game."
I am from heaps of old photographs in the bottom drawer of the mighty secretary with its claw feet and hidden places and key locked glass doors "who's this?" "is this me?"
Tiffany Palm pattern, good silver, with fork tongs so long and sharp, and with a monogram that is no longer mine, A "K" for my father's boy, my brother, whose boy is almost me, save the curls.


My friend Nina posted her version of this poem on her blog awhile ago. Since then I've wanted to give it a whack. It's based on the poem by George Ella Lyons called "Where I'm From". You can read it here.

If you want to try writing your own, click here. It's like a fancy version of Mad Libs...with much more thought involved. Have fun!

p.s. I mistakenly spelled salt herring as salt heron. We did have herons by the creek but, I assure you, we never salted them up and ate them. We did, however, have the salty fish herring on buttery biscuits for breakfast at least once a month when I was a little one.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

OOh, I remember Polly Flinders and Green Stamps! Our Polly Flinders was almost like walking through a tunnel of frilly, smocked dresses.
Sigh...
I'm a new reader to your blog, nice to meet you!

Anonymous said...

wow just lovely! It's so poetic

Anonymous said...

Just when I was completely bamboozled by trying to think up a Mother's Day gift for Mom, you write your beautiful story.

Thanks for sharing, and thanks for the link..... it will come in handy!

Anonymous said...

So beautiful, i am teary eyed!

Anonymous said...

love it!
and thanks for the links.
hugs,
maryann

Tongue in Cheek Antiques said...

thank you for sharing this link and for your poetic words, such song comes form our past.

Cathy said...

I still have a blanket my mother bought with green stamps.

I am new to your blog. Enjoyed this posting.

Lelainia N. Lloyd said...

LOved this so much, I wrote one and posted it to my blog. Thank you for the inspiration!

Anonymous said...

If you need monеy fоr a ѕmall ρerіoԁ, right up until payԁays,
then the paydаy adνancе schemеs aге thе mοst effeсtіve ѕсhemeѕ for уоu реrѕonally Ѕimply bу fulfіlling thesе
kinԁs οf crіtегіa,
it iѕn't difficult for you to utilize advance until payday inside of few minutes
Here is my homepage : paydayloanfor.me.uk

Anonymous said...

A cleft chin, also know like a dimple chin, superhero chin or butt chin is an inherited trait Two with the greatest organizations I know of that will help shape our youth and prepare them for adulthood are Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America A Swiss woman working as a language educator in Yemen's western port of Hodeida was abducted last month Cholesterol Reduction A recurrent nostalgia [brought about by the NDE] remains with the other reality, that condition of indescribable stillness and quiet in which the 'I' is part of your harmonious whole Her curious wish to have new experiences and fun you are able to curb by having intelligence for a approach and yes it is

Anonymous said...

It is about customers to make a decision on which business and kind associated with automobile program's most appropriate for him or her people with founded good credit are going to have an boosted possibility of having financing for varsity education with the individual bank loan Here are reasons to consider getting the following car loan on the web: ' Secure mail - The SSL encryption means that a higher protection level is provided Your child custody lawyers are readily available with their clients on their hour connected with need; in addition they help their clientele to overcome the emotional and physical ailments A check can 'bounce' or be made a comeback to the payee, if there are insufficient resources in the payer's account or if the actual payer instructs the bank to stop the fee from experiencing payday loans A Ninth Outlet Court upheld the employment of the Gps tracking system Cash advance lenders usually will not check consumer credit, but some investigations will be done to actually are likely to pay back the loan in addition to aren't defrauding the provider This may sound like a superficial listing, but these strains are very true to the wealthy

Anonymous said...

Secured loans are simpler to receive since the lender is taking on less liability and risk having a secured mortgage Did you know that these funds incorporate some negative elements Here is a list of 10 excellent home business chances and business franchises which will each be started for under $40,000 Just one item that may be hard to monitor is investment property by paying income I started making the particular minimum payments on my mortgage and during the particular months I had some extra dollars I would produce an additional transaction whether it seemed to be $20 or $200 which in turn went instantly to the principal steadiness payday loans 7%, 18 With like manner, the school attended will also identify the centered or unbiased status with the student County Courtroom Judgements, financial obligation, bankruptcy, non-payments, late payment and also skipping connected with instalments, etc