I Am From . . .

/ roughwighting

bifocals, bookstore, flash fictionI am from books and paper and pen

From Dell and HP and Oxford notebooks

I am from the maple tree outside my childhood home that

Protected me from the neighbor’s Peeping Tom and

Displayed incredible colors beyond the rainbow one mystical day.

walking, forest walking, forestI am from New Jersey rhododendrons and evergreens silver with snow.

From the tiny hidden woods across a forbidden street where I first met

The fairy folk folded into a chuckling stream and a feathery

Breeze that enveloped me in magic.

ancestors, American ancestorsI am from writers – Virginia Woolf’s Leonard, my great great (great?) uncle,

and my paternal grandmother who secretly wrote romance novels and my dad who wrote a poem for my mom in every anniversary card.

I am from bravery thanks to my father, paratrooper in WWII.

But I’m also from personal sorrow – my grandmother and her children neglected by her husband, their father.

My dad held that sorrow and passed it on to me and my daughter.

mothers and daughters, dementia, elderlyI am from Montclair NJ where my grandparents came from wealth and sunk to near poverty thanks to a stock market dive

but they produced a feisty daughter, my mom,

Who determined to be herself in flirtatious humor, in dance and in the immense capacity to enjoy life.

Some of her blood runs through me, intermingled with her mom’s (my Nanny), a nurse, and according to all who knew her, a saint.

https://pixabay.com/photos/chocolate-pudding-dessert-food-dish-6218757/I am from Nanny’s chocolate junket, served just like her:

Sweet and soft and created with pure love.

Unconditional.

I come from glimmering stardust

  But cling to this dimension of reality

     Even when I write fantasy mingled with

        Unexpected creativity that proves

          I am made of many things

             I Don’t

                 Understand.

karma, new year, 2024, happy new year

Today is my Birthday and I celebrate where I’m from. Where are YOU from?

146 thoughts on “I Am From . . .”

  10. I learned something new about my friend of over 50 years. I am from Long Island, New York. Both of my grandparents lived on Long Island along with my parents and my siblings. My roots are there, but now I’m in Florida where the sun and the clouds inspire me every day to enjoy each day. I hope you had a wonderful birthday. Love, Karen

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  11. I see many readers have noted stardust and glitter in your heritage. That’s why my favorite lines are these:

    The fairy folk folded into a chuckling stream and a feathery

    Breeze that enveloped me in magic.

    A Magical Birthday to you. . with lots of fairydust! You are among the literary glitterati in my books, Pam!

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    • Marian – you put stars in my eyes. “literary glitterati” – WOW. I had never put two and two together. We all are supposedly made of stardust, and I wear some kind of “glitter” every day, so yeah, I’m wearing myself on my sleeve (or more likely hanging from my ears). 🙂

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  12. Wishing you a wonderful birthday, Pam! Love your words filled with beautiful imagery. I hope your year will be filled with fairydust, magical moments and much happiness, always. You deserve the very best that Life has to offer. . . .

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  13. Happy Birthday, Pam. Love the poem. I have written one like this. I need to dig it out.

    I enjoy receiving your blog post and reading your writing. Thanks.

    Glenda

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  16. I know you better now. Thank you, and happy birthday.

    I’m from forests and rivers, snow-capped mountains and sunny islands. I’m from readers and artists, carpenters and seamstresses. I’m from courage and love, a musician and a dancer. I’m blessed and grateful.

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  21. Beautifully expressed. I am from a stable family; from cricket in the street; from being twice widowed; from being a single parent; from leaving an insurance office for a social work and therapeutic career; from living long enough to benefit from retirement.

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    • Ah, your “from” place is so different from my New Jersey origins. One of the things I love about blogging is meeting others from all over the world, and appreciating our differences, and even more so, our similarities.

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  26. Happy Birthday, Pam. You share a birthday with one of our nieces and one of our nephews! All Ides of March babies. 😀

    I am from the Scottish Highlands and the Mayflower Pilgrims and the Native Americans and one of the “witches” of Salem. I am from novels and poems and movies and plays and concerts and encyclopedias and songbirds. I am from the trees, the breeze, and the bees. I am from sugar and spice amid sassy undertones. 😀

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    • You are from strong special stock, indeed! No surprise that you have witchy genes in there. One of my good friends (and my publisher) discovered years ago that she is from one of the Salem witches and she changed her name to the ancestor’s. Very cool. And how delightful that you’re from songbirds too. They are finally, just, returning here from their winter get-away. Sassy for sure – that’s what makes us sweet, yes?

      And finally, I’m glad to share the Ides of March with some of your relatives. When I was a kid, I thought it was called the EYES of March, and I used to walk around on March 15 with widened eyes. ;-0 ❤

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      • The EYES of March ~ “all the better to see the songbirds return!”

        My ancestor was Susannah North Martin. I’ve read some of her trial testimony. Talk about sassy!!! She rocked it!

        Have a fun week!

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    • Thanks, Miriam. I’m still blowing out the birthday cake candles. Ha. This reflective poem is fun for all to do – I gave the structure to my writing students and they loved it. Happy almost-spring!

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    • Hi Cindy. I think you would love to write this structured poem “I am from” where you fill in the blanks about your ancestors, childhood settings, things that make you who you are. Although I admit after a while I ignored the structure. 🙂 We all are filled with multitudes, aren’t we? ❤

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  35. Sending you late birthday wishes and hoping all your dreams come through. As usual, I’m always touched by your writings. They are beautiful and soul-searching.
    I am from a father who was gentle and sweet despite his disability and ruined youth. His love was unconditional. I am from a mother that was strict but loving I am from a grandfather that taught me honesty pride and love I am from a village where everybody knew everyone know the history know their faults.
    gerlinde

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    • Hi Gerlinde. THANK you for sharing some of where YOU are from. I’ve loved the photos of your small village and your relatives when you visit the beautiful country. Now I know even more about you and your parents and Grands. It is GRAND.

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  37. Oh birthday girl…loved where you came from and so happy you made it here to give us delicious writings!! Our “herstory” is our past and surely adds to our future…so very mysterious and wonderful!!!

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  38. Wow! Pam, this is a beautiful, magical and poetic celebration of YOU! Your love of life, and that of your parents and grandparents, shines through. The resilence, joy and creativity of you all a beacon at all times. Sending you belated birthday hugs and hoping you had a most wonderful day. xx ❤️

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  39. Belated Happy Birthday, Pam! Wish I had arrived at the party on time. There is so much here and so much more unwritten to who you are and who we are. Beautifully written and causes deep thought. It might take a book to say where I’m from. Working on it. Wishing you many more wondrous trips around the sun.

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  40. Happy Belated Birthday, Pam. How lovely to know where your are from and how you carry all those places, histories – and most of all the people – inside you, those you love and who loved you. A beautiful and poignant post, my friend. You are indeed magical. ❤

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  45. I love your birthday I Am poem, Pamela! It is wonderful! I love every line, and this one about the maple tree, especially: “I am from the maple tree outside my childhood home that

    Protected me from the neighbor’s Peeping Tom and

    Displayed incredible colors beyond the rainbow one mystical day.” 💞✍️💞

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  46. How very thoughtful of you to think of all of us on YOUR birthday! 🎂 Old friends, and even us random new. I wish I had had the foresight to get something appropriate for you on your special day.

    Wait, maybe I can can leave my surf board, and you can catch a wave today. 🏄‍♂️

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  48. Actually the poem is amazing it makes me sometimes be emotional and also encourages really love that,,Hammatone leshan from Kenya happy to meet you ❤️

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  49. I loved this poem, Pamela and it was interesting prompt that I might use with my writing students. It would be fun to see what they come up with.

    I am from writers and that heritage I discovered long after I had been writing! Nice to know that we carry that tradition in our cells!

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    • You gave me the chills – YES, I believe we do carry on the “writing” tradition through our cells – our ancestors. I used this poem structure with my (adult) creative writing students. I thought they’d be flummoxed by it, but they LOVED it.

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      • Yes, our ancestors! I didn’t believe it at first but it keep slapping ne in the face until I admitted it was more than a coincidence. A writers DNA! Who knoes, maybe its even a specific gene? Lol.
        If you had success with your adult Cr. Writing students using the prompt, then mine should love it too, (they are all 50 + seniors, though). My class is on a break atm, so I’ll use the prompt next term. Thanks so much!

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  55. Indeed. Everyone has a ‘story’ and the older demographic has a wealth of amazing experiences on which to draw. It seems many of my students have a desire to save those stories from oblivion, before they pass away. One student publishes war stories from families or veterans of WWII, as they are fast disappearing.

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    • Of course, north NJ is sooo different from south NJ. I grew up in the south of the state and went to grad school (and lived for a while) in the north of the state. The state is unsung and underappreciated. 🙂 Welcome!

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  58. Hello Miss, that was definitely a great blog. Btw, I am a 14-year-old and completely new here. I have written a few blogs . So pls dont forget to support me, and I am definitely ready for guidance from a professional like you.

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  60. Well, for one thing, Pam, I lived 17 years in Montclair, myself! (But not where I started out.) What a loving remembrance of all who came before, and how you came to be your loving, imaginative, writerly self. To write where I came from would take a post as long as this. If I get around to that post, I’ll be sure to let you know. 🙂

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