Where I'm From

I am from The Land of Legos,

From Nintendo games and VHS cassettes.

I am from walls you can hear through, that bend when you touch them.

(Brown paneling

that looked nothing like real wood.)

I am from the palm tree,

The cat-tail,

Whose long blades I remember

As if they were my own.



I’m from bedtime stories and the nightly news,

From Thomas and Gail.

I’m from the industrious

And the resourceful,

From hard work and self-reliance.

I’m from do as you are told and

Chew your food.

Here I am, Lord;

I still sing along at mass on Sunday.



I’m from New England and The Fort,

Undercooked steak and overcooked spaghetti.

From the execution of an ancestor who refused to relent

To small minds.

A locket from my birth mother

I keep buried in a jewelry box and never wear;

It reminds me of what I lost,

What was never mine to begin with.

The love for my adoptive parents

I keep buried in my heart and feel at all times;

It reminds me of who I am and where I come from,

What is true and what is real.