I am From Poems

Today is one of my favorite days.  I always love this day each year that I teach.  Today the class got to write what I call I am From poems.  To start I had the class cut out two poems.  The first poem is called Where I'm From by George Ella Lyon.

I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening,
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.

I'm from fudge and eyeglasses,
          from Imogene and Alafair.
I'm from the know-it-alls
          and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I'm from He restoreth my soul
          with a cottonball lamb
          and ten verses I can say myself.

I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
          to the auger,
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.

Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures,
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments--
snapped before I budded --
leaf-fall from the family tree.

I love this poem.  Then I show the class my version that was inspired by the George Ella Lyon poem.

I am From

I am from the dirt of a thousand ball fields

The sun stained asphalt of tennis court after tennis court

I am from the chlorine of countless swimming pools

The grass stains of all the soccer parks

I am from city after city

state after state

country after country

finally settling down to find a home

I am from a teacher

and a pilot,

I'm from the plains of Oklahoma mixed

with the sun of Florida

I am from a pair made for

each other

I am from a mother who taught

who always had the food on the table

who woke before the sun to get me to morning practice

I am from a father who never

missed a point, a game, a set, a match

who always made the time

in the middle of a busy schedule

I am from the streets of the suburbs

flash-light tag, bikes with baseball cards in the spokes and backyard football

I am from the heart of it all

the Icky Shuffle, the wire to wire Reds, and hit number 4,192

I am from a house of quiet

but always surrounded with love

I am from the shade of the Black Oak

with a view where the Deer Run

After looking at the two poems and discussing what we notice, the class starts to write their I am From poems.  As usual we got together after reading and shared.  The poems the students wrote blew me away.  I think most of the students were proud of their writing and I hope they shared it with you.  If they did not, ask to see their poems.  As usual this writing will be in their writer's notebook.