Where I’m From

Inspired by the poem by George Ella Lyon

I am from my favorite stuffed piggy,
and my golden ring and necklace.
I am from the drawer to the left
(in the old dresser from the 1900s).
I am from the stargazer, the reddest rose
blooming out greedily to the sun, stealing light.

I am from the banana pudding and the never-silence,
from Mom and Dad;
I am the advice everyone forgets,
and the jokes cracked anywhere we go.
I am from the Garden of Eden,
descended from the one who was tricked into sinning.

I am from San Francisco and Texas,
and berries and taiyaki,
from the strange apparitions in the dark,
and the demon cast out,

from the album tucked in the bookcase,
black and white, colored, monotone.
I am from those moments.
I am of Korean royalty. I am of a Georgia farm.
I come from a crazy family, bound arm in arm.