Where I’m From

I am from video cassette labels, from Crayola and Apple.

I am from the clovers in the apartment building playground, which made me feel as if I were in Alice in Wonderland.

I am from the Taotaomona tree, the vines with the tiny pink flowers in them growing on fences.

I am from Thanksgiving at Great-Grandma’s and long legs, from Joe Babauta and Batangan and Agustin.

I am from the tone-deaf singers and smart alecks.

From Pinching pennies and Clean that up!

I am from winter solstice and Darwin, then to midnight mass on Easter and nightly novenas.

I’m from Guam and the Murphy clan, chicken adobo and apple pie.

From the bunches of my great-grandma’s bananas that my teenage dad gobbled up, and the wedding ring of my late grandmother, which my mom tried to hunt down in vain.

I am from the picture frames on Grandma’s wall, featured in the new, brightly colored photos which catch eyes

While the black and white photos of grandparents unknown to my cousins and siblings fade, accumulating dust over the years

Where our pictures will be moved aside as well, for the photos of the next generation to come.

*This poem was written for my AP English class, with a template from George Ella Lyon's "Where I'm From".