{"id":4506,"date":"2012-05-15T17:13:12","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T21:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/?p=4506"},"modified":"2013-05-14T07:58:35","modified_gmt":"2013-05-14T11:58:35","slug":"where-im-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/2012\/05\/15\/where-im-from\/","title":{"rendered":"Where I’m From"},"content":{"rendered":"

The kids and I read and discussed “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Where I’m From<\/em><\/h2>\n

I am from clothespins,\u00a0<\/em>
\nfrom Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.\u00a0<\/em>
\nI am from the dirt under the back porch.<\/em>
\n(Black, glistening,\u00a0<\/em>
\nit tasted like beets.)\u00a0<\/em>
\nI am from the forsythia bush<\/em>
\nthe Dutch elm<\/em>
\nwhose long-gone limbs I remember<\/em>
\nas if they were my own.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m from fudge and eyeglasses,\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0from Imogene and Alafair.\u00a0<\/em>
\nI’m from the know-it-alls<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and the pass-it-ons,\u00a0<\/em>
\nfrom Perk up! and Pipe down!\u00a0<\/em>
\nI’m from He restoreth my soul<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0with a cottonball lamb<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and ten verses I can say myself.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,\u00a0<\/em>
\nfried corn and strong coffee.\u00a0<\/em>
\nFrom the finger my grandfather lost\u00a0<\/em>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0to the auger,\u00a0<\/em>
\nthe eye my father shut to keep his sight.<\/em><\/p>\n

Under my bed was a dress box<\/em>
\nspilling old pictures,\u00a0<\/em>
\na sift of lost faces<\/em>
\nto drift beneath my dreams.\u00a0<\/em>
\nI am from those moments–<\/em>
\nsnapped before I budded —<\/em>
\nleaf-fall from the family tree.<\/em><\/p>\n

And then I had them write their own Where I’m From poems. I got everything from the hilarious\u00a0(Jamar)<\/p>\n

I am from my Converses\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

That I wear about every day for my fashion purposes\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

to the alliterative (Daniel)<\/p>\n

I am from the Wii,<\/em><\/p>\n

From the wild.<\/em><\/p>\n

to the sad<\/p>\n

I am from the ramp leading up to my front door.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Aaron<\/a> is in a wheelchair.]<\/p>\n

to the wise beyond her years (Kyrie)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m from notes being passed and looks being exchanged.<\/em><\/p>\n

I am from a full shelf of books I no longer read,<\/em><\/p>\n

Trophies that I cannot recall exactly how they were earned<\/em><\/p>\n

to the nope, not quite (Emir\u00e9<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I love when it’s Christmas<\/em><\/p>\n

The warm cookies\u00a0and the snow mans in the snow<\/em><\/p>\n

The nice red stockings<\/em><\/p>\n

And we wake up to some nice merchandise<\/em><\/p>\n

to the…really? “big shaped mirrors”? (Jaeden<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I am from the Shane Family<\/em><\/p>\n

In my family we had tons of dogs<\/em><\/p>\n

We had every breed and every kind of dog<\/em><\/p>\n

In my backyard we have a 12-year old shed.<\/em><\/p>\n

In my neighborhood we have a 20-year old house<\/em><\/p>\n

My Family has hundreds of big shaped mirrors<\/em><\/p>\n

We loved to do thanksgiving because we got to eat all<\/em><\/p>\n

my ancestors’ food.<\/em><\/p>\n

to the I can hear it as spoken word (Jeremy<\/a>)<\/p>\n

I am from religious ceremonies and holy matrimonies.<\/em><\/p>\n

Through the grapevine I heard the whispering voices that weren\u2019t supposed to be heard.<\/em><\/p>\n

From baptism to the church choir.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m from better or worse or worse to better.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m from leatherheads with speed and agility.<\/em><\/p>\n

The country to the city is my origins.<\/em><\/p>\n

Dogs big to small.<\/em><\/p>\n

70\u2019s afro style to 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century braids.<\/em><\/p>\n

Scars and bruises and spankings and switches.<\/em><\/p>\n

to the tries to ruin itself with a last-line clich\u00e9 but can’t because it’s just too awesome (Raquayne)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>to the Y-chromosomed (Yusuf<\/a> has three brothers)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

to the I don’t understand it, but I effing love it (Nelson<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I’m from all these kids, and some days, that’s a pretty cool thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The kids and I read and discussed “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon: Where I’m From I am from clothespins,\u00a0 from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.\u00a0 I am from the dirt under the back porch. (Black, glistening,\u00a0 it tasted like beets.)\u00a0 I am from the forsythia bush the Dutch elm whose long-gone limbs I remember as … Continue reading Where I’m From<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4506"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6887,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4506\/revisions\/6887"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/avidbruxist.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}