A poetry kinda day

I'm totally not feeling the bloggy writing thing, so today .. you get a poem. I wrote this a couple years ago, I believe, for a poetry challenge in the forum I'm a part of. We were supposed to write about where we are from, but not just the location. We were supposed to write a list of things we remembered from our yesterdays, memories of growing up, and make it into a poem. I hadn't written anything for a while (and haven't since) .. and my friend encouraged (demanded) me to do this challenge to keep my poetic juices flowing, so to speak. I whined and moaned and said I was too tired and I couldn't .. but she persisted, and this is what I grudgingly came up with, just to shut her up.

This past Christmas it was framed and given to each of the people mentioned in it. I almost didn't do it .. but am glad I did, since one of them is no longer with us.

Roots

I'm from
a sleepy, lazy, no-horse town
that lies along a river proud
up a holler, 'cross a creek
just below the mountain's peak

I'm from
the yummy smell of grandma's pies
with apples grown 'neath country skies
and damson jelly, freshly canned,
grown with love, on family land

I'm from
walking to the park alone
without my mom, and feeling grown,
from hiking hills with family
to chop down our own Christmas tree

I'm from
sledding in the winter chill
traipsing up and down the hill
with sisters bundled, toes to crown,
who squealed a lot as we flew down

I'm from
cherry-pit wars up in the trees,
childhood fears and scraped up knees,
from monsters underneath the bed,
or maybe they were in my head.

I'm from
the unending love of a too-young mother,
from football games with my grandfather,
from hauling wood in for the fire
and pushing sisters on swing-tires

I'm from
line dried clothes and sudden storms
and country air and family farms,
and a stepfather who did perfect
riding backwards on cows, without a net

I'm from
Lawrence Welk and Little House
and Dr. Who and Santa Mouse,
from frog and cricket symphony,
and the laughter of my family.

I'm from
roots deep in these mountains that spread from sea to sea,
from everywhere and nowhere that any eye can see,
I'm from humble beginnings, and I'll be from humble ends
but I am rich in knowing I'm held safely in God's hands