Where I'm Coming From

I am from the land of fire ant invasions and preventative tetanus shots, too.

• I am from the prairie, rolling hills of yellow wheat, from Grape Nuts and John Deere.
• I am from the clapboard house with plain white siding, a screen porch and a carpeted basement, smells of cinnamon, of fertilizer and cattle feed.
• I am from the sunflower, the prairie nettle.
• I am from County Meath and County Sedgwick, from red hair and freckles, from Aunt Beatrice and O’Keane, from old feuds and old alliances, from fast friends and slow-cooked brisket.
• I am from the warm hearth, from “why don’t you have off your coat and set a while?”
• I am from the secret clubhouse in the tree, from the suicide swing dive-bombing into the cattle tank.
• I am from Sunday school and catechism, from incense and cassock.
• I’m from the red earth and from the Emerald Isle, from cabbage and pork belly and tuna casserole.
• I am from the infield t-ball home run with two on base, from the first house you call, from the chicken soup for the mom with the flu, from the volunteer fire brigade and the emergency calving.
• I am from scrapbooks, Calcium Gluconate 23% Milk Fever Treatment, from Indian paintbrushes and from ten-foot snowdrifts followed by Indian summer, from the old cedar chest and the new Danish furniture, from the satellite dish and the drive-in matinée.

with apologies to George Ella Lyons