Where I'm From...

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September 23, 2021

a project of ServiceSpace

The memories of childhood have a strange shuttling quality, and areas of darkness ring the spaces of light. The memories of childhood are like clear candles in an acre of night, illuminating fixed scenes from surrounding darkness.

- Carson McCullers -

Where I'm From...

Appalachian poet George Ella Lyon's poem, "Where I'm From," evokes the particular world of a particular childhood through a poem quilted from scraps and patches of memory... Memories of specific sights and sounds, objects, instructions, tragedies, and delights. It has been used in classrooms around the world as a prompt for people to write their own versions of, "Where I'm From." More recently in response to the extreme divisions riddling our world, Lyon was inspired to start co-create the, "I Am From Project." Because, in her words, "In such an atmosphere, how can we find our voices and make them heard? One avenue is through poetry, that heart-cry that comes to us in times of love and crisis." Read her poem and learn more about this beautiful effort here. { read more }

Be The Change

Where are you from? Use Lyon's poem as a springboard and weave together your own origin poem. For more inspiration, read the back story to the poem, and Lyon's warm words of encouragement to anyone wishing to write their own version. { more }

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