I am From

I am from gunmetal

From Savage and Colt

I am from the northern forests

(dark, thick, they smell of moss and bitter pine)

I am from the creeping myrtle

(spreading out with dark leaves and purple blooms)

I’m from the frozen lakes and generations of sons

From Dean and Shannon

And Hazel Muriel

I’m from the compulsion to serve and loyalty to loved ones

~

From “hush little baby” and “don’t go out at night”

From God fearing men and devout christian women

(church on sundays and prayer before meals)

I’m from Windy Ridge and Dead Man’s Drop

From deer we killed and chicken we raised

From the classified nature of my father’s violent past

The small town charms my mother was raised to know

In my grandparent’s lawn, a wedding with blue jeans all around

~

I am from the days of my childhood

When things were simple and pure

When summer was warm and winter biting cold

When I was the apple not yet fallen too far from the tree