I Am From

I am from dancing and songs of praise

Joyous and grateful songs rang under my roof

Along with verses and hymns of worship at my birth

Which I’ve grown up to accept all as truth

I am from a household standing firmly upon pride

Knowledge is prioritized and confidence is key

Even though I’ve been so far away for so long

I am from the roots that locate my family tree

I am from a universe written out by my pen

One which I’d carved out from a slab of a sapling

I’ve created my own world, worlds even, plural

And I am proud to say it’s mine and forever evolving

I am from a family whose service kept their bags packed

Up and down the coast, at times together, other times we managed

Sometimes so fast young memories fell out and were left behind

I hold onto what I have and, fingers crossed, those don’t vanish

I am from the sticks that I’d use to draw my name in the sand

Each letter happily written until a villager corrected me

I am from small box house we started our new lives in

And my favorite older cousin who I never wanted to leave

I am from my only doll who had taught me how to be older sisterly

Whom I had relied on when my little brother came into the picture

Up until then I despised them all except for this one that helped me

Until, of course, she was only naturally destroyed by Lucy’s fit so

I am from my father’s first deployment, which is honestly kinda hazy

I’ve retained a single picture, old and worn, from when he returned

But it laid down the stepping stones, set up my expectations

Prepared me for the many repeats to come in and out of home

I am from the snow that reached tiny six year old me’s knees

And the kid next door who guided me through school for two years

Desperately I took it to make it through while preparing for another brother

He did his best until I came up to him with my eyes filled with tears

I am from a year of no words, letting my pencil do all the talking

A year to catch myself, reinvent myself, and start over and breathe

I am from that Open House where I’d started to socialize again

I am from the years that I used to start to piece together a girl named Toby