Where I’m From… Poem
Paper details:
-the poem must be at least 20 lines long (though it can be longer); make conscious line break choices -the poem can be written as a single stanza or use multiple stanzas – but the choice should be a conscious one the poem must use concrete nouns (remember the “banana ladder”), with at least one concrete image for each of the 5 senses -the poem must employ repetition of the phrase “I am from” or “I’m from” or some variation thereof (to help create rhythm) -employ syllabic verse (that is, most lines should be the same syllable length, give or take one or two syllables)
Where I’m From… Poem
This assignment is adapted from several versions of a popular “Where I’m From” exercise.
It will yield a very versatile poem with a focus on imagery, diction, and the list form.
Begin by reading George Ella Lyon’s poem “Where I’m From:”
I am from clothespins, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride. I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening, it tasted like beets.) I am from the forsythia bush the Dutch elm
whose long-gone limbs I remember as if they were my own.
I’m from fudge and eyeglasses, from Imogene and Alafair. I’m from the know-it-alls and the pass-it-ons, from Perk up! and Pipe down! I’m from Herestoreth my soul with a cottonball lamb and ten verses I can say myself.
I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch, fried corn and strong coffee. From the finger my grandfather lost to the auger, the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box spilling old pictures, a sift of lost faces to drift beneath my dreams. I am from those moments– snapped before I budded — leaf-fall from the family tree.
For this assignment, write your own “Where I’m From poem” in list form. The poem should answer the question of where you are from through concrete images.
Formal requirements:
• the poem must be at least 20 lines long (though it can be longer); make conscious line break choices
• the poem can be written as a single stanza or use multiple stanzas – but the choice should be a conscious one
• the poem must use concrete nouns (remember the “banana ladder”), with at least one concrete image for each of the 5 senses
• the poem must employ repetition of the phrase “I am from” or “I’m from” or some variation thereof (to help create rhythm)
• employ syllabic verse (that is, most lines should be the same syllable length, give or take one or two syllables)
