Good day, kind readers!

TODAY’S

BOULDER

Poetry and writing about what matters most…

In the spirit of a recent column, The Book of Your Life, and in celebration of National Poetry Month, I would like to help you write a poem about yourself. I think that you will find that it is surprisingly easy.

In 1993, George Ella Lyon, an American author from Kentucky, wrote a poem entitled “Where I’m From.” She wrote it in response to a poem from Stories I Ain’t Told Nobody Yet by Jo Carson. Since its publication, her poem has become a very popular writing prompt and template for the writing of one’s own story. It has been used by teachers, of course, but also at family reunions, with refugees in a camp in Sudan and with prisoners on death row.

Use the template that follows, filling in what is asked for in parentheses while remembering many of the little things that have helped to make you who you are.

As an example, my poem would start like this:

I am from wringer washers.

From floating Ivory Soap

and brown sugar and cinnamon pop tarts.

I am from a 2 bedroom house having an RD1 address,

with an overworked Singer sewing machine and

boxes of colorful fabric scraps.

And now it is your turn:

I am from (specific ordinary item).

From (product name)

And (product name).

I am from the (home description),

(adjective) (adjective) (sensory detail).

I am from (plant, flower, natural item)

(description of above item).

I’m from (family tradition)

and (family trait).

From (name of family member) and (another family name).

I’m from the (description of family tendency)

and (another one)

from (something you were told as a child)

and (another).

I’m from (representation of religion or lack of),

(further description).

I’m from (place of birth and family ancestry),

(a food item that represents your family)

and (another one).

From the (specific family story about a specific person and detail)

(another detail of another family member)

(location of family pictures, mementos, archives)

(line explaining the importance of family items).

STONES WORTH SHARING

George Ella Lyon wasn’t done with the popularity of her poem. She and friend Julie Landsman started the I Am From Project (https://iamfromproject.com/). Their mission is “To help people of all ages and backgrounds use the ‘Where I’m From’ poem as a prompt to write about an experience that shaped them and to bring these voices together in community. Also, to create a national river of voices, reminding Americans that diversity is our origin and our strength.”

Additional information is available from the National Writing Project at https://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/4673.

A POETRY PEBBLE

A DRINKING SONG

By William Butler Yeats

Wine comes in at the mouth

And love comes in at the eye;

That’s all we shall know for truth

Before we grow old and die.

I lift the glass to my mouth,

I look at you, and I sigh.

Until next time, keep reading and writing, perhaps about where you’ve been and how it has made you who you are today. Write to me at kathy@stonesoupliteracy.com.

——

Kathy Gephart is a retired public school educator and the founder of Stone Soup Literacy (www.stonesoupliteracy.com) whose mission is to build readers, one community at a time. Email Kathy at kathy@stonesoupliteracy.com.