I Am

I am backyard clotheslines, moonpies and Tab bottles with sprinkler heads for ironing.
I am a redbrick house with a metal milk crate on the front porch.
I am azaleas, pine needles, mimosas and sandspurs.
I am from Ratcliffs, Cases, and Kleins who valued family before all else.
I am catfish and hushpuppies and drive-in movies.
I am Lake Lucina, If I Were Going, and spelling bees.
I am matching Easter dresses with headbands, petticoats and gloves.
I am a girl on a banana seat bike.
I am ceramics in the basement and fireflies in the Mason jar, Mountain Dew and Pepsi.
I am station wagons with Shasta trailers, Mexican sombreros and trips into caverns.
I am from sawmills, taverns, classrooms and high rises.
I am fried clams and White Otter stories.
I am the man who wore a Purple Heart from World War II and a woman who sewed ballet costumes.
I am from one town to the next, from not knowing where I am going, from being still and ever moving,from being certain and unsure. I am from someone taking me to a city which is yet to come.
A woman can hardly ask to be more.