I Am

35 Replies

I am from thick ankles and steady determination. Stubborn Dutchmen, prairie dirt, waving wheat fields, night sounds that carried me away. Inkwells and Our Miss Brooks, Christmas tree tinsel that hurt your fillings when you chewed it, chicken pox and neighbors’ dogs, tiny bunnies rescued from furrows, my sister’s old prom dresses in a trunk in the upstairs hall. I am cherry trees and cherries for pitting. Pitched tents and new friends, prayer and questions, spelling bees and math, Annie-I-Over and hollyhocks. Sunday rollerskating on the basketball court. Ten-cent movies and Bit-o-Honeys, ditch ’em and long summer nights. An attic never opened, a basement too frequently explored, dust of Sunday explorations down long dirt roads. Small prairie towns and flights of fancy. Pretending my real self, while trying to be from where I was. Caught in a net with scissors. Cutting my way out. Taking any road elsewhere.  A highway, a plane, a ship, an escape, a looking for, a finding, a losing, a continual origin story of my own making. Full breaths. Sinking in. Making memories. Remembering memories made for me. I am. I am becoming. What I was I still am. Self changing self and sinking back into self.

 

For OctPoWriMo, Oct 30, 2020:I Am

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

35 thoughts on “I Am”

      1. SAM VOELKER

        No I do not remember this particular one. I did surface geology near the park area, but that was just too many years ago, and Hoodoo formations are rather common in the area. They are formed by hard sandstone or limestone overlay with softer rock underlying, through a combination of physical and chemical weathering. The most spectacular are in Utah.

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      2. SAM VOELKER

        Sorry I missed the rest of your question….Not on purpose, but then my dislike of that type of music may have had something to do with it… Because you ask, the Metallica song is – “Wherever I May Roam”; in keeping with your poem. You may just want to read the lyrics to save your hearing, but you can also turn the volume down or put cotton in your ears and listen to it here:

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        1. lifelessons Post author

          I don’t like the lyrics or the music..I got a headache after 2 minutes. Now why did you mention those lyrics? And how did you come to know that song if you hate their music???

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          1. SAM VOELKER

            Oh I only need to hear such “tripe” one time, and the name stays with me~! Sorry about your headache,,,,, I knew not to listen to it; like I said it sounds like scratching your fingernails on a blackboard. I have been feeling down and once again you were my victim. Now I feel bad that I answered that question after all.

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            1. lifelessons Post author

              Not trying to make you feel guilty..Headache was over as soon as it stopped. I hate songs with those long instrumental lead-ins, even when I like the music. I just want them to get on with it!

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  7. Eilene Lyon

    Fabulous poem, Judy. I remember when Christmas tree tinsel wasn’t plastic. We always reused it year to year until it was super crinkled and falling apart. We are what we were – so true. And we become as we are meant to be, if we’re lucky and have room to roam (in every sense, not necessarily just physically).

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  9. lifelessons Post author

    I have two “I Am” poems. Could we have written to this prompt two different times? The other one is in the book that I’m editing it preparation to contacting the editor you told me about. Harriet and Blue have given good advice and their approval. I just always drag my feet over the “business” but I am editing and keep searching for more things trying to fill in the holes they found in the story.

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  15. Pingback: I Am | lifelessons – a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown – Murdo Girl

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