Here is one to simply enjoy…for its images, story and beauty.

I Am From

By Valerie Saturen

I am from crowded bookshelves
from matzo bri sizzling on the stove
I am from grass slick from the garden hose (the water metallic, spraying wildly beneath my thumb)
I am from stars shrouded in steel mill haze
In constellations pointed out by my dad

I’m from WWF wrestling pops and ballet slippers
from David and Myra
I’m from the what-ifs
and the but-whys
from Sheket! and Shalom!
I’m from Shema Yisrael
and macaroni sculpture offerings
and syllables I can intone but not understand

I’m from Bruno’s Pizza,
cinnamon toast and cherry slurpees
From tiny rainbows in the pearls of Bubby’s ring
Mom’s bug-eyed glasses and reader-thick lenses

I am from delicate scales swelling to a crescendo
From Dad’s piano in the basement
The soft blue notes and unexpected harmonies
All swirling like dust in a ray of evening light