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Where I'm From
I’m from back alley basketball games on Dorchester
Boat rides off of High Park
From grandparents who grew up in the deep south and lived to tell about it
From a grandpa who beat cancer
But didn’t survive a headache
I’m from the fruit man selling oranges under the bridge
The world that keeps ticking like a clock
Even when you wish time would stop...
I’m from curfew breaking bowling games
A summer league that kept going months after the warmth was gone
From skilled strikes and enthusiastic gutter balls
From a friend who can put an X in each box
Just like the ones on his arm
I’m from middle school hallways echoing with slurs
Trashed notebooks scrawled with insults
From rumors flying faster than a fighter jet…
I’m from the South
The North
The Midwest
From places an afro is not a common occurrence
From a school where I was too black for the white kids
But too white for the black kids
I’m from a family
Where respect will get you further than any prayer
Where it doesn’t matter what you do, but how you do it
From a mother who tells me “any place you are, is where you belong”...
I am from back alley basketball games
I am from curfew breaking night bowling
I am from here and there
I am from wherever I please
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