Emily Brisse
Where I’m From #8
By Emily Brisse
Inspired by George Ella Lyon
I’m from backyard vegetable gardens,
from the rhubarb in spring to tomatoes in fall,
from cold cans of Pepsi and red licorice twists,
the long hollow candy doubling as a straw.
I’m from kid-marked lawns
of crab grass and dirt patches,
spikey and flour-dry,
from the trees we played beneath–
those two giant pines–
and the birches we peeled,
and the maples we climbed.
I’m from fold-out kids-tables and summer lawn chairs,
from intergenerational games of Pinochle and Pepper,
from olive and pickle trays, to grilled turkeys,
to plates and pans of aunt-made cookies and pies,
from big families, road trips, and Midwest goodbyes.
I’m from The Golden Rule and Jesus Loves You,
from night-time prayers and tucking-in,
and, in the quiet that would follow, from
the way my thoughts and imagination and fears
and belief created a steady flow of questions.
Who was my great grandfather, adopted?
Who was my grandmother, when she was younger,
on that day she made certain her daddy
could not torment her mama anymore?
Who was my father, with his radio voice and drawn-in smile?
And who was my mother, really–beyond me–
with her to-do lists, her busy hands, her too-big plans?
Now, a grandmother herself, she puzzles together our past–
yellowed birth certificates and plotted family lines,
four-hundred-year-old stories from Litchfield
and Denmark and Alsace-Lorraine,
lines of cousins, lists of mispronounceable names–
each detail stored in huge bound books,
and in thin, torn black-and-white photos,
and in letters, still kept in their envelopes, sent during wars.
“Someday, these will be yours,” she tells me,
And, for once, I don’t have to ask why.
Where to find Emily:
Website: https://landingoncloudywater.blogspot.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emilybrisse
Where to find Alyson:
Website: https://www.alysonshelton.com
Substack: https://whereimfrom.substack.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byalysonshelton/
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