Where I’m From #22

By Fox Henry Frazier

Inspired by George Ella Lyon

I am from Susquehanna and Chenango riverbanks,

from rock salt and backyard timber rattlesnakes.

I am from a house with beautiful hearthstones—

smooth, grey, smelling faintly of rain—

and another house, scented with lavender and hibiscus

and gunpowder.

I am from ivy and holly and This berry

probably won’t kill me if I only take the tiniest bite,

and from bitter, but it didn’t.

I’m from horseback riding and I’ll go where I please,

from Kennedy and Frazier. I’m from the grandmother

murdered by the IRA in the front doorway of her house.

From I saw the spirit leave her body and stories of the púca,

I’m from dizzying incense, and which priests we learned quickly

to shy away from.

I’m from Bittersweet Farm and forest horses in a hamlet

named for peonies, from Galway Bay and lost in the Atlantic.

From ham biscuits and jambalaya, from sarmi and dolmeh.

I come from a little girl caught in a riptide & surrounded

by a school of jellyfish, who looked skyward and was pulled

ashore by the hand of God.

Where to find Fox:

Website: https://agape-editions.com/team/fox-henry-frazier-founding-eic/

Where to find Alyson:

Website: https://www.alysonshelton.com

Substack: https://whereimfrom.substack.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/byalysonshelton/