1. 1 "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon
in United States of Poetry, a book and a video published by Harry N. Abrams
2 I am from clothespins,
3 from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride. [Clorox = clothes detergent ; carbon-
4 I am from the dirt under the back porch. tetrachloride = bleach.]
5 (Black, glistening
6 it tasted like beets.)
7 I am from the forsythia bush,
[forsythia = yellow flowers]
8 the Dutch elm
9 whose long gone limbs I remember [Dutch elm = a tree]
10 as if they were my own.
11 I am from fudge and eyeglasses,
12 from Imogene and Alafair.
13 I'm from the know-it-alls
14 and the pass-it-ons, [Imogene and Alafair = names of
15 from perk up and pipe down. relatives, grandpa and grandma?]
16 I'm from He restoreth my soul
17 with cottonball lamb
18 and ten verses I can say myself.
19 I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch,
20 fried corn and strong coffee.
21 From the finger my grandfather lost
22 to the auger [Artemus and Billie's Branch = a side of
23 the eye my father shut to keep his sight. the family tree one identifies with]
24 Under my bed was a dress box
25 spilling old pictures.
26 a sift of lost faces [auger = wood-working machine]
27 to drift beneath my dreams.
[a sift = a filter used to separate things
28 I am from those moments -- from each other]
29 snapped before I budded --
30 leaf-fall from the family tree.