Where I’m From

Link to the video:

http://youtu.be/lW4TvMqHIGs

Poem:

I’m from Morningside Heights NYC

Son to English Immigrants, with tales of Liverpool and Sunderland

always close by.

I’m from my mother’s earl grey tea, from my father’s Cornish pasties.

I’m from my grandmother’s sweet face and her beautiful flowers

tended by sweet wrinkled hands. Soil feeding my young nostrils

with a love for fresh Earth.

I’m from the stone gargoyles on the outside of my elementary school. From the

French beaux-arts mansions lining Riverside Drive and the gothic wonder of St. John the

Divine mere steps from where I live.

I’m from soccer chants for Liverpool football club and the urban expansion into uptown.

I’m from vague, rainy stroller rides and too much ketchup.

From the brown bricks of a bygone era.

I’m from Latin car rhythms and two rivers.

From the dusty stack of book knowledge in Butler Library and its cold neo-classical pillars.

From stinging playground insects in historic districts, where new and old intersect.

I’m from black tar caught in my shoes, AstroTurf as well.

From sharks in the local swimming pool, and from the sweet creak of floorboards expressing a homely love. Exploring the gaps, finding hidden treasures for my imagination.

I’m from Lincoln Center’s billboards and its fountain.

I’m from inspiring foreign films that stay with me forever.

I’m from Lara Crofts adventures and Racoon City.

I’m from parkour and freerunning in urban jungles.

“Obstacles are everywhere and in overcoming them we nourish ourselves.”