Where I'm From

I am from 1970s brown painted aluminum pots,
from Tupperware glasses full of warm milk.
I am from the blossoming tree in the back yard
that spilled its petals like
pink snow every April.

I am from the Rainier Cherries,
the walnut tree with its precious fruit encased in 
lime green shells
seeping sweet milk on my 
already sticky hands.

I’m from Shake’n’Bake chicken
and Hawaiian pancakes that always 
gave me a tummy ache.

I am from “You can do anything you put your mind to!”
and “Take what you eat; eat what you take.”
I am from the Punjabi temple with my grandfather
in the huge room with the plush red carpet,
and afterwards, the free food downstairs:
vegetarian, hot, and pungent on a steel tray;
steaming chai in plastic mugs. 

I am from Ranch Park Elementary and Centennial High School,
hot dog days and McDonald’s lunches for kids who volunteered;
“veggie burgers” at the cafeteria which were just burgers without
the meat.

I am from Charles Best Junior High,
eating limp oven-baked-from-the-bag french fries and sipping cans of Cokes with my friends 
sitting in the hallway by the office until Grade 10 
when my love affair with food was kindled 
by a chronic inability to eat
without pain. 

Me, my stomach, and I on this journey
together.


This poem was inspired by George Ella Lyon