I Am From

I am from black and white

television four channels

The Dick van Dyke Show

every day after school

I am from pin curls

all around my sister’s

head and mine too

each one held in place

by two perfectly perpendicular

bobby pins the whole affair

swaddled in a white bandanna

my mother tied around our skulls

so we looked like a pair

of pale Aunt Jemimas

reading in our twin beds

while the Dippity-Do marinated

I am from strong resilient

German stock

tough accomplished people

who get things done

no matter what

sometimes at the expense

of their own hide

or someone else’s

I am from a fascination

with exotica and mysteries

and secrets far away

in time and space