I Am From

And now for something completely different...
I read this post by Waterfall who has written a poem called Where I Am From. It's awesome. The poem is developed from a template which is explained here at Pratie Place. So I decided to have a crack at it and write my own:

I Am From
I am from slightly bitter tasting sandwiches from Vegemite and the need to build healthy children.
I am from the caravan cocoon of books read under the bunkbed overhead light.
I am from a real house and fried breakfasts on Sunday mornings, from pop music on the black transistor box, from Dad humming and a morning off Mum in bed, from children in pyjamas wandering across the kitched linoleum attracted by the smells.
I am from best clothes for church, best clothes for the doctor and barbecues in shorts and t-shirts under an inextinguishable sun.

I am from not talking to strangers, and from listening to a roadside tramp with a flagon of Sherry explain the mystery of the world for two hours until I am found.
I am from inescapable weekly confession and making up sins in the wardrobe box at church so the priest will not be disappointed.
I am from latin masses I don't understand and praying God still counts me.
I am from wondering if Jesus is looking at me from inside his little tabernacle house behind the altar.
I am from smiling when no-one is looking in case he is.

I am from broken links and missing paragraphs, from the Old World and the new, from transience and settlement, from concentration camps and emigration.
I am from pictures in books that could be my relatives.
I am from pictures in books that could be me.

I am from new uncurled ponga fronds wound in expectation, from open-handed silver ferns of promise.
I am from hurling myself at the ocean and finding the waves are kind.
I am from burning my feet at the black sand beaches and smashing into the surf in revenge.
I am from lying on the sand listening for the hum of the invisible engine.

I am from fish and chips on Fridays and no chocolate for Lent.
I am from jazz and blues, from Ella and Joe, from Louis and Sarah.
I am from collected vinyl and familiar anthems.
I am from black and white tv families where the parents don't know what their children do and don't ask where they have been.

I am from sitting on the clifftop above the circle of the earth watching the swansong in the sky.
I am from one town to the next, from not knowing where I am going, from being lost and found, from being still and ever-moving, from being certain and unsure.
I am from some-one taking me to a city which is yet to come.

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