Where I'm From - Revisioning of George Ella Lyon's Piece By Emily Fisher

I am from the cigarette smoke of my elders

from canine crusted floors and canned food

I am from the grime under blue collar nails

(black and chewed to the quick,

they smelled of gasoline.)

I am from the peony bush bloomed from ant jaws

and the cherry tree

whose long-gone limbs were visited by

elderly neighbors and greedy birds, also gone.

I’m from deviled eggs and sewing kits

from Garfield and Dad’s limericks

I’m from second hand shops

and double negative statements,

from “Ain’t nobody...” and “That don’t make no sense!”

I’m from Green Grass and High Tides Forever

with guitar lessons and calloused fingertips

passed on from father to daughter.

I’m from Lemony Snicket and Jack London

reheated casserole and black coffee

From the mother my family lost

to the aneurysm

the aided ears my grandmother lost to old age

Under my bed was dried up feces

deposited by small, loving dogs

too far under to reach

too fossilized to smell.

I am from those moments –

unconventional and unsanitary -

a first-generation student and proud.

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Want to give the author some feedback?

Contact: emfisher@vt.edu