I’m from Friday night football games
Third Quarter sitting with the band kids.
Fourth Quarter standing in the end zone
Rooting for the visiting team.
I’m from Saturday night drive-in backseat sin
And Sunday morning sermons served
with dinner on the ground,
Communion with fried chicken.
I’m from a land where
Pump jacks bob against the horizon
Like the dinosaurs whose bones
They pull from the earth.
Where I’m from we played half court basketball
Because girls could not be trusted
To run the full length, goal to goal
Until Title IX gave us our breath.
My great-grandmother treasured her Confederate flag
And courthouses commemorated with statues
That losing side.
Where I’m from defines my past but does not determine my future.
Where I’m from shows me how far I have to go.
© 2018 Terrye Turpin
Thanks to Terijo for the inspiration.
