SOLSC '23 Day 25: Where I'm from

 

I attended a SoulCollage session this morning.  After creating our Spring-themed cards, we were invited to write a poem using a template fashioned after George Ella Lyon’s poem, Where I’m From.  My card, pictured at the end, meant one thing to me before I wrote the poem, and then carried a different meaning after writing.  My poem, first:

I am from busy hands

From Harlequin romances and Salem cigarettes

I am from the third culture,

peripatetic, surreal, overwhelming

I am from tomatoes

homegrown in a temporary garden

I'm from Sunday dinners and sightseeing

From Anns and Jims and Edwards and Williams 

and a Pearl

I'm from the tight-lipped, and

arguments behind closed bedroom doors

From Santa and the Tooth Fairy

I'm from rituals, incense, holy water and rosaries

I'm a Parisian from Ireland and Hungary

mashed potatoes and pierogies

From the bottle blonde and blue eyeshadow

The cat-eye glasses and stashed fabric and yarn

Memories filed in cabinets and frames, news clippings and

stories told at funerals and weddings

I am from the nurturers of life.

Card by Christine Margocs, 3/25/23

When I made the card, I read it as the springtime demands of mothers and educators against the background of rebirth and blooming.  After writing the poem, I could see the people who nurtured our family tree through the generations.

You can find out more about SoulCollage, and find a facilitator near you, at https://soulcollage.com/ .