I Am From

Mary Pipher in _Writing to Change the World_
opines that you should write a poem:
"I Am From."

Mention food, places, and religion.

I AM FROM:

I am from Delia Bridget, Clare, and Helen

I am from County Clare, the West of Ireland… the poorest of the poor

And the tenements of New Jersey: their stories etched in my bones

I am from the Lewis clan: clam diggers and oyster shuckers…

The pounding of the waves on the Cliffs of Moher
and the tides of Manhasset Bay inhabit me

An Us and a Them: the Irish Catholic school
girl and the lass of Protestant stock

Born with famine memory, always hungry
Seeking sustenance… Truth

A Camelot childhood…
Until the King died too soon

I am Francie Nolan and Anne Shirley

I have been to Manderley and watched
the manor burn

I have jigged, and waltzed, and twisted

I’ve listened to Enya… longed to be a wild child

I cross fibers into cables and seed stitches

And hear old Irish women recite decades
of the rosary
in the wee hours
of the morning

But remain outside the circle

I have Irish granddaughters to carry the genes.
“May God Help Them.”

I bequeath them the patterns and the stories,
pray for their lives to become fine fabric
woven on a sturdy loom.