I am from…
Bruna Quesada Nepomuceno
I am from the beautiful beach,
From the sunny days and waves sound,
I am prom the buildings,
The big city, the calm ocean,
That sometines, in the city, it has difficult locomotion.
I am from the sunflowers and the banana trees,
That had such cute monkeys,
That we alway gave bananas to eat.
I’m from the volleyball at the beach,
And the food table with rice and beans.
From my sister and my cousins,
I’m from the pranks and jokes we did,
And the smile when we were kids.
From my mom’s words, that we were buying the expensive doll when we get back,
Words that moms always said,
And in the end of the shopping, we never did get back.
I’m from no meat when god died,
But still have a delicious lunch that my grandma made,
I’m from the good brigadeiro,
And my mom’s delicious cake.
I’m from the Brazilians roots,
From the sunny day playing volleyball,
And then just get home at 13:00 pm,
And finally have a nice barbecue.
I’m from the sound that the piano did when me and my grandfather played together,
From the Christmas pictures that we took every year,
From every vacation that me pass in the same house,
I’m from Brazil,
The place that I love the most and always will love.
.
Salem
Ariana Alvarado
I come from women
Who prefer not to smile.
From witches and warlocks
And spirits,
I come from the vampires
that roam the streets
Of New Orleans at night
And the cab drivers who refuse
To take you down dark alleyways.
I come from designated drivers
And text me when you get home,
So I know you’re okay.
I come from bad decisions
With good outcomes,
Repeated mistakes
masquerading as stubbornness,
Cycles of pain
And secrets swept under rugs.
I come from ghosts hiding in pennies,
An inescapable need
To make my parents proud.
I come from constellations and guitar solos,
A love-hate relationship with life
And a hatred of the color pink.
I come from evolution,
Because as I grow I realize
There is absolutely nothing wrong
With the color pink,
And I am nowhere near close to mapping
Every vein, every street of my hometown,
Every word in the English language.
I come from Aphrodite and Sappho,
From shame and hatred
And love and growth.
I come from duality,
Realizing that the world is not black and white,
But a twisted blend of yellows and blues
And the red that always seems to creep
Into my dresses and dreams.
I come from washed up prom queens
And artists who never quite made it.
I come from fire and rejection after rejection
after rejection after.
I come from dreams deferred and abandoned,
Puppy love and devotion,
Shallow graves and high notes.
I come from lost men, what ifs,
Second guessing and thinking
I only wish I had done more.
I come from misunderstandings and misanthropy,
Hallucinations, Halloween, and chipped nail polish
On hands covered in dirt.
I am from dirt
And stardust.
I am so much more
Than what I come from,
Because I come from
hometown gossip
And trauma,
To give me the opportunity to say
That I come from love
I am the eerie stillness before a storm
And every downed power line.
I come from power
And sadness
And imperfections
And regret.
I come from everything and nothing at the same time,
But I still don’t know
If I’ll ever really understand
Where I’m from.
I Am From Project 