I AM POEM

I AM FROM

I am from Lambert Street, lead contaminated row homes boxed in by drug dealers and addicts.

I am from freedom and responsibility with choices to fly high and dream big.

I am indivisible by nine.

I am from the crossroads of Kansas City and South Philadelphia.

I am from Mars and Venus, a butcher and a seamstress.

I am from burnt food, technical prowess and creative ingenuity.

I am from independent thinkers who created art by the lives they lived.

I am from baseball, fishing, crossword puzzles, pinochle, scrabble and sudoku.

I am from 'robbing Peter to pay Paul' and 'What the samhill is the matter with you?'

I am from garlic cloves and Ms. Van Esther.

I am from meatballs, Spaghetti and brachioles on Sunday dinner.

I am from the fear of Sr. Margaret St. Francis and the gentleness of Sr. Eleanor.

I am from music imagination, dreams and miracles.

I am from justice, civil rights,  and taking a stand.

I am from freedom and responsibility indivisible by nine minus one.

I am from past, present and future and all worlds in between.

I am still becoming.

                                                                 June 6, 15, 2007