I Am From Poem Use this template to draft your poem, and then write a final draft to share on blank paper.

I am from ______(specific ordinary item)

From ______and ______(product name) (product name)

I am from the ______(home description)

______, ______, ______(adjective) (adjective) (sensory detail)

I am from ______, (plant, flower, natural item)

______(description of above item)

I'm from ______and ______(family tradition) (family trait)

From ______and ______(name of family member) (another family name)

I'm from the ______and ______(description of family tendency) (another one)

From ______and ______(something you were told as a child) (another)

I'm from ______, ______(representation of religion or lack of), (further description)

I'm from ______(place of birth and family ancestry)

______, ______(a food item that represents your family) (another one)

From the ______(specific family story about a specific person and detail)

The ______(another detail of another family member)

______(location of family pictures, mementos, archives)

______(line explaining the importance of family items)

Original Poem: Model Poem: Where I'm From Where I'm From By George Ella Lyon By Ms. Vaca I am from clothespins, I am from bookshelves, from Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride. from vinegar and green detergent. I am from the dirt under the back porch. I am from the dog hair in every corner (Black, glistening, (Yellow, abundant, it tasted like beets.) the vacuum could never get it all.) I am from the forsythia bush I am from azaleas the Dutch elm the magnolia tree whose long-gone limbs I remember whose leaves crunched under my feet like as if they were my own. snow I'm from fudge and eyeglasses, every fall. from Imogene and Alafair. I’m from puzzles and sunburns, I'm from the know-it-alls from Dorothy Ann and Mary Christine and the pass-it-ons, Catherine from Perk up! and Pipe down! I’m from reading and road trips I'm from He restoreth my soul From “Please watch your brother” and with a cottonball lamb “Don’t let your brother hit you!” and ten verses I can say myself. I’m from Easter sunrises and Iowa I'm from Artemus and Billie's Branch, churches at Christmas fried corn and strong coffee. I’m from Alexandria and the Rileys, From the finger my grandfather lost Sterzing’s potato chips and sponge candy. to the auger, From my Air Force dad’s refusal to go to the eye my father shut to keep his sight. Vietnam, Under my bed was a dress box from my mom’s leaving home at 17. spilling old pictures, On a low shelf in my new house is a stack a sift of lost faces of photo albums, to drift beneath my dreams. carefully curated by my faraway father, I am from those moments-- chronicling my childhood. snapped before I budded -- I am from these pages, leaf-fall from the family tree. yellowed but firm, holding on to me across the country.