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Where I'm from
by Sheila Smith Evans 

I’m from a Southern backyard —

Magnolia grandiflora sporting huge white blooms

Honeysuckles spilling over the fence

Red roses soaked with the aroma of tea

Hollyhocks springing up yearly into flowering towers

Mud pies made beneath a magnificent pin oak tree

Mint leaves mysteriously exploding with flavor

Milk pods being tasted unknowing they were poisonous.

 

I’m from a Southern backyard —

Bedroom window we escaped to crawl space door

To meet our coonhound and to play in the moonlight.

Bedroom window we each escaped separately

Out into moonlit streets until return by kind policemen.

 

I’m from a Southern backyard —

Concrete foundation swirls scarily like a gorilla’s face

Wooden swing where we watched mad Mommy fleeing

Crawl space hound’s howls after Daddy’s death.

 

I’m from a Southern backyard —

From which Mommy returned to hospital after funeral

From which we left with barely known Northern kinfolk

To which others came to live in the bounty of its beauty.

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