1st poetry class.

Well, lets just say that the people in my poetry class are prettttty eccentric. 

There's some purple hair, interesting piercings and long hippie skirts but you know...to each his own!

I do kind of feel like I'm the only one who didn't smoke weed before class though haha but we got our first assignment today! We had to imitate "Where I'm from"  by George Ella Lyons. It's funny cause I'm pretty sure I did this in 8th grade and now I'm doing it again for college.

But here are both of them so you can compare. We had to keep it pretty much the same format and we had to try and use the same parts of speech for each line.

This is the original

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 He restoreth 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.

This is my version...

I am from lily twinkle lights

from rod iron bed frames and cinnamon febreeze.

I am from a keyboard under my fingers

(flat, clacking,

it sounds like the rain)

I am from the Dogwood tree,

the Bradford Pear

whose fragrance I remember

as if I’d passed one today.

I’m from Reeses and guitar strings,

from Maddox and Bouldin.

I’m from the one-in-a-millions

and the always-and-forevers,

from live it up and tone it down.

I’m from Prince of Peace

with church seats six in row

and valued morals I’ve instilled in myself.

I’m from time well spent and southern roots,

From home cooked meals and peppermint coffee.

From the pride my grandfather gained

in the Vietnam war

the hand my Dad held firm so we’d grow up right.

Behind our navy front door rests my childhood

brimming with old memories,

a snapshot of my family

the people that caught my fall and carried my dreams.

I am from this life-

gently captured in my hands-

a wispy cloud in a bright blue sky.