Poetry Program, Session IV: Where I’m From
George Ella Lyon has published forty books for readers of all ages, including Educators Catalpa, an Appalachian Book of the Year; Come a Tide, a “Reading Rainbow” feature; and Borrowed Children, winner of the Golden Kite Award. She is best known for “Where I’m From,” a poem featured in the PBS series: The United States of Poetry and used as a writing model by teachers around the world. This prompt can be used with children as young as eight years old. We can begin writing “Where I’m From” poems by listing words, phrases, colors, smells, memories, physical descriptions, tastes, sounds, feelings, family traditions, and places.
Select one or two of these things and finish the sentence: I’m from ….
Preparation
Step 1: Gather memoir/first person books. Make sure to get a good, broad selection, such as The Cross-Over, by Kwame Alexander; Love That Dog, by Sharon Creech; This Same Sky, an anthology by Naomi Shihab Nye; and Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson.
Step 2: Have Writing Boxes and paper available.
Step 3: Read, reread, and read aloud “Where I’m from.” Practice reading it aloud.
Step 4: Print out copies of “Where I’m from” for a mentor text. Print out the prompt on the top of the page to hand out to participants.
Step 5: Write your own “Where I’m from” poem
Step 6: Copy a few poems from the memoir mentor texts, like “A Girl Named Jack” from Brown Girl Dreaming.
The Workshop
Step 1: Read “Where I’m from” aloud.
Step 2: On chart paper write, Where I’m from… and finish the sentence with your own words.
Step 3: Ask participants how they would complete the sentence. Brainstorm a list of people, places, foods, sports, music, family sayings, etc., that have made you You. Like: I’m from snow, and cold, and sleet. I’m from warm wool blankets and wood fires. I’m from four sisters. I’m from ponds and crappies.
Step 4: Hand out scrap paper for brainstorming.
Step 5: Pass around mentor texts. Time to write.
Step 6: Give a five-minute warning for cleanup. Remind the children when the Writing Boxes are available to use in the library. Clean up the area and put away supplies.
Step 7: Take a few minutes to share the poems.
Where I’m From by George Ella Lyon
I am from clothespins,
from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.
I am from the dirt under the back porch.
(Black, glistening
it tasted like beets.)
I am from the forsythia bush
the Dutch elm
whose long gone limbs I remember
as if they were my own.
I am from fudge and eyeglasses,
from Imogene and Alafair.
I’m from the know-it-alls
and the pass-it-ons,
from Perk up! and Pipe down!
I’m from He restoreth my soul
with cottonball lamb
and ten verses I can say myself.
I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch,
fried corn and strong coffee.
From the finger my grandfather lost
to the auger
the eye my father shut to keep his sight.
Under my bed was a dress box
spilling old pictures.
a sift of lost faces
to drift beneath my dreams.
I am from those moments —
snapped before I budded —
leaf-fall from the family tree.
(reprinted with permission of George Ella Lyon)
The I Am From Project
George Ella Lyon has partnered with Julie Landsman, a writer, teacher, and activist based in Minneapolis to create the I Am From Project. Through their website, https://iamfromproject.com, they inspire people of all ages and backgrounds use the “Where I’m From” poem as a prompt to write about experiences that shape them. They hope to tobring these voices together in community, get them heard locally, and create a national river of voices, reminding America that diversity is our origin and our strength. Help them expand the river of voices by sending your I Am From poems and other creations to: iamfromproject@gmail.com.
George Ella Lyon
George Ella Lyon’s recent poetry collections include She Let Herself Go, Many-Storied House, and Voices from the March on Washington, co-written with J. Patrick Lewis. A freelance writer and teacher, Lyon is particularly interested in the poetry of witness. She served as Kentucky Poet Laureate in 2015–2016. You can contact her at rubyjomountain@gmail.com.
Julie Landsman
Julie Landsman is the author of many articles poems and three books on education: Basic Needs: A Year with Street Kids in a City School (Milkweed Editions, 1993), A White Teacher Talks About Race (Rowman and Littlefield, 2001), and Growing Up White; a Veteran Teacher Reflects on Racism (Rowman and Littlefield, 2008). She is also the editor of many collections of essays, stories and poems. She is a retired teacher and consultant who loves poetry and believes in its power to change the world.
