Thank you to everyone who joined us for this session!

Our text for this session was “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon, posted below.

Our prompt was: “Write about where you’re from.”

More details on this session will be posted, so check back!

Participants are warmly encouraged to share what you wrote below (“Leave a Reply”), to keep the conversation going here, bearing in mind that the blog of course is a public space where confidentiality is not assured.

Also, we would love to learn more about your experience of these sessions, so if you’re able, please take the time to fill out a follow-up survey of one to two quick questions!

Please join us for our next session Wednesday March 10th at 12pm EST, with more times listed on our Live Virtual Group Sessions page.

---

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 am 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 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.