Where I'm From | Judith van Praag

Judith van Praag

September 9, 2025 / 14:45/E4

Where I’m From #4

By Judith van Praag

Inspired by George Ella Lyon

I am from one knife cuts all,

Red leather sheath protecting blade and fingers

From Sunlight soap, Potassium Permanganate and Vim.

I am from “met de Franse slag,” clean enough for the eye,

Artistic, Bohemian, a raven’s nest.

I am from reading under the elms

Dandelion stains, daisy chains and horse manure

(earthy, solid, fertilizing).

I’m from New Year’s Eve starting the morning of the 31st

Red beet haring salad, canned salmon, jenever, and refusing to kiss.

From JP with the golden hands and twenty years younger doe-eyed Nita

I’m from volatile and patient, patient

From Passover Seder to Christmas carols and atheist prayers.

I’m from the sandy North Sea beach and Prague in the east

I’m from slow cooked offal, snapping beans and

Peeling oranges and apples countless ways

I’m from coffee black, or au lait, mocha cake and kugel with pears.

From the grandmother with a black purse,

The other who refused to wear the cloak of mourning

Young widow with three teens and a twenty-year-old

After the flu of 1918 took her husband without warning.

I’m from diamond cutting, quatre mains, and pencil pushing

I am rough, hiding and eager to shine.

Where to find Judith:

Where to find Alyson:

Alyson Shelton

Alyson is an award winning screenwriter and essayist.