Sandra Heska King

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Window on Writing: Where I’m From

July 27, 2011 By Sandra Heska King

She issued a writing challenge based on a poem by George Ella Lyon titled Where I’m From.  

She offered a template link.

Here’s my attempt, but I think I deviated from the template.

I am from black-and-white two channels

antenna perched on post turned

to fuzzy and not-so-fuzzy

by hand in all weather

window open.

From always Ford, Appian Way, Campbell’s, and Evening in Paris,

and Avon lipstick samples in the mail.

From Soupy Sales, Ed Sullivan, Sky King,

Kenny Roberts the Jumping Cowboy,

and Tigers baseball.

I am from the little house

three rooms for five

kitchen cupboards chartreuse

and gray formica table,

hemmed by woods

and buttoned with a propane tank.

Four log cabins heated with kerosene

for company and customers

hunters and National Guard

and a single-seater outhouse

inhabited by snakes.

I am from the birch tree and the Juneberry

the blueberry bog, wild strawberries, spore-spotted fern forts,

morels, and green pads with yellow bobbers

floating.

I am from one-at-a-time tinsel on the tree,

playing cards, Paul Bunyan tales, rowboats and bluegills

and Thunder Bay pike.

I am from James the shanty boy and Edwin the dulcimer player,

from William the gardener and fresh-picked rhubarb dipped in sugar.

I am from Grandma Dummer (dew’-mer) and books of the month,

crochet hooks and limburger cheese,

with old-fashioned candies, hard and cream-filled.

I am from poets and musicians and readers and artists and builders,

and practical jokers.

From paper and pencils and pages,

manual typewriters and carbon.

I am from clean-your-plate-or-no-dessert

and do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do.

I am from the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments

letters to Aunt Emma (Sister Lucinda)

Baptist friends

a box of scripture verses

and Sunday funnies.

I am from a pleasant peninsula, a water-winter wonderland,

the Great Lakes State.

I am from unleavened pancakes, ambrosia, broiled chicken,

and tiny morsels of liver swimming in catsup,

swallowed whole,

soft-boiled eggs and sour cream on everything.

I am from the scent of pipe tobacco and sawdust, coffee and cigarettes,

railroad ties and forest fragrances

and strains of Oh, What a Beautiful Morning.

I am from the Horizontal Queen of Horseshoe Lake

with the fishhook in her cheek,

a bartender with his name on a bullet,

and a wrestling-loving grandmother.

I am from albums black and white and wedding check stubs,

crocheted dresses and a gold-gilded pitcher,

an Alpine costume that no longer fits and a plastic-flowered crown.

I am from wood and earth and water,

feathers and fur and scales,

from greens and blues and browns

and deep white snow.

Window open.

Linking today with Glynnis Whitwer. Head over there and read her offering.

And if you choose to give this a whirl, please come back here and let me know in the comments so I can learn more about you.

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Filed Under: poetry, stories and reflections, writing

Comments

  1. Glynnis says

    July 28, 2011 at 3:20 pm

    LOVE THIS! I’m also from tinsel (not isicles) placed on the tree one at a time. Then removed one at a time, smoothed out and used the next year. You brought back such a sweet memory. Now go post part of this on TWV2! And I’m really happy you did this.

    • Sandra says

      July 28, 2011 at 5:59 pm

      It was fun, Glynnis. Thanks for the prompt!

  2. L.L. Barkat says

    July 28, 2011 at 3:47 pm

    “soft-boiled eggs and sour cream on everything”

    Loved that. And so many of the images here. The end too… so simple… “window open.”

    That must have been a great template (or it just made room for a great you 🙂

    • Sandra says

      July 28, 2011 at 6:00 pm

      Awwww.

  3. Megan Willome says

    July 28, 2011 at 5:49 pm

    Love those last two lines!

    • Sandra says

      July 28, 2011 at 6:00 pm

      🙂 🙂

  4. laura says

    July 28, 2011 at 7:38 pm

    I don’t know about any old template but this one is a winner for me! Loved every line. Really took me back to where I’m from.

    • Sandra says

      July 29, 2011 at 12:02 am

      Thanks, Laura. Now that I’m done, I keep thinking of stuff I forgot to include. 😉

  5. S. Etole says

    July 28, 2011 at 8:51 pm

    The word “wow” kept coming up! Love this.

    • Sandra says

      July 29, 2011 at 12:01 am

      That word comes up for me every time I visit your place. 🙂

  6. deidra says

    July 28, 2011 at 11:04 pm

    Oh my goodness, I have goosebumps! I didn’t want it to end!

    • Sandra says

      July 29, 2011 at 12:02 am

      You. You know I’m going to hug your neck one day, right?

      • Deidra says

        July 29, 2011 at 12:43 am

        Hope so!

        • Sandra says

          August 1, 2011 at 12:27 pm

          😀

  7. Southern Gal says

    July 29, 2011 at 8:55 am

    Love this. Just love it.

    • Sandra says

      August 1, 2011 at 12:27 pm

      Love that you love it. 🙂

  8. Linda says

    July 29, 2011 at 12:25 pm

    You carried me, with these wonderful words, back in time. I had almost forgotten Soupy Sales and Sky King!
    Loved this Sandy – every bit of it.

    • Sandra says

      August 1, 2011 at 12:30 pm

      Thanks, Linda! Apparently, I wouldn’t eat my lunch unless I could have what Soupy was having. 🙂

Trackbacks

  1. Where Y’all From? says:
    August 1, 2011 at 10:13 am

    […] post is inspired from a poem titled Where I’m From by George Ella Lyon, and I first saw it here {although it originates here}. While there is an official writing template for creating a Where […]

  2. Where I’m From says:
    November 15, 2011 at 12:54 pm

    […] sweet cyber-friend Sandra Heska King (SandraHeskaKing.com) posted an article a few months ago as she linked up with Glynnis Whitwer (GlynnisWhitwer.com) […]

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