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Where I'm From This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine.


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I’m from lemons in a wheelbarrow,
From wind-lashed cheeks.
I am from cactus coolers (yellow and orange that soothe the throat),
I am from the dumpster.
The albino rabbit that lurks,
A crunching sound of gravel and bone.

I am from papayas we picked that morning,
From Cosmo Kramer.
I’m from flying down the road,
From yes.
I’m from sticks and rocks,
From no.

I’m from the bayliner,
From Rupert.
From Good Samaritan, where I learned true
Sorrow and despair.
At the top there is light,
A need to earn trust, a need to impress.

This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. This piece has been published in Teen Ink’s monthly print magazine.




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This article has 86 comments. Post your own!

ghostbones said...
Feb. 6 at 2:33 pm:
This poem offers a new perspective on things. Very nice. C:
 
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ghostbones said...
Feb. 6 at 2:31 pm:
This poem offers a really different perspective on things. Nice job C:
 
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ShnarfThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. said...
Jan. 23 at 1:31 pm:
Demetria's right. It sucks
 
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ARandomKid said...
Jan. 23 at 7:28 am:
What's with the creepy girl in the photo? It's not gnarly
 
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ARandomKid said...
Jan. 23 at 7:25 am:
Are You From Bad Poem City?
 
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JamesODalaighThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. said...
Nov. 20, 2011 at 10:35 am:
Fantastic, really had me intrigued and captivated!
 
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MadyBooThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. said...
Nov. 18, 2011 at 2:08 pm:
I really liked this poem. I usually don't read stuff like this but it was really good.(: Amazing job!
 
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jomi973This teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. said...
Sept. 13, 2011 at 11:50 pm:
nice poem, really helps me picture everything
 
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Duckie430This teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. said...
Sept. 13, 2011 at 9:18 pm:
good job!!
 
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poetfaery This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. said...
Jul. 9, 2011 at 11:29 pm:
Cosmo Kramer! Mondo nostalgia right there. Fantastic poem! :D
 
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SuperPanda409 said...
Jun. 17, 2011 at 5:38 pm:

Hi Fred,

I'm sure you're sick of all the comments you get posted on your poem. I just wanted to share that this is beautiful and i'm originally from boise idaho too!

 
iwakeup2early replied...
Oct. 27, 2011 at 12:14 pm :
Whoa, I'm from Boise, too! I'd love to meet some other writers here.
 
SuperPanda409 replied...
Nov. 5, 2011 at 9:47 am :
I moved when I was 7, I'm sorry!
 
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lalabear333 said...
May 26, 2011 at 5:09 pm:
We were given prompts for this in class. We all had to write one, about ourselves, of course. I take it that's the same with you?
 
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Aderes18This teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. said...
Feb. 27, 2011 at 4:07 pm:
Hey Fred! Write more!
 
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Aderes18This teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. said...
Feb. 27, 2011 at 4:07 pm:
I'm kinda writing a poem like this right now. I'm almost done. I also like the picture. :)
 
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cutestuffThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. said...
Jan. 14, 2011 at 6:38 pm:

ive written one of these too. but mine was not even close to as good as yours. you can really picture it.

good job :D

 
peregrinefalconThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. replied...
Jan. 19, 2011 at 10:03 pm :
Wow nice job. Beautiful poem. Idaho's a grand old state. ;)
 
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BMC601 said...
Dec. 9, 2010 at 2:26 pm:
I had this assignment in eighth grade. Mine was no where as good as this one, I can relate because I am from an extremely small town; make the poem longer I want more. 
 
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blf496 said...
Dec. 1, 2010 at 7:45 am:
i really like the poetic views that you have showed me. it really makes me feel how fortunate i am to live in this type of environment. it shows me that i am thankful for all the right moves i made in all the right places. and oh yea they're coming now
 
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LibbyGayle said...
Oct. 18, 2010 at 10:11 am:
Ha. I had the same assignment last year. Mine wasn't this in depth, but it was similar.
 
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Maxinkuna said...
Aug. 30, 2010 at 5:13 pm:
I got this same assinment from my teacher my freshman year of high school
 
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justwannabeme said...
Jul. 22, 2010 at 12:20 pm:

oh my gosh. i wrote a poem like that in english class. haha. it was fun. and i liked it a lot. :)

 

 
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SamJP said...
Jul. 22, 2010 at 8:32 am:
Wow. This was good. I'm glad I stumbled upon it.
 
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demetria said...
May 27, 2010 at 5:48 pm:
i like the blend of words but the purpose isn't clear....okay you are from these things/places but so what? what's so great about it? give it PURPOSE!
 
bandagedisappearThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. replied...
Jun. 30, 2010 at 10:55 am :

demetria, why don't you tell that to George Ella Lyon, the woman who inspired this poem?

http://www.georgeellalyon.com/where.html

 
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lilyxoxo said...
May 26, 2010 at 5:40 pm:
omg i had this same assingment!!!
 
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celloizmylifeThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. said...
Mar. 20, 2010 at 12:43 pm:
Jeez, does every English teacher give this assignment? 2 of my English teachers gave this assignment, and I had to write it differently both times.
 
Eilatan This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. replied...
Apr. 25, 2010 at 10:58 am :
I've never been assigned anything like this. I wish my Language Arts cirriculum would do ANYTHING with poetry besides studying the difference between similies and metaphors.
 
celloizmylifeThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. replied...
Apr. 29, 2010 at 5:30 pm :
ouch. that sounds pretty suckish. sorry. In my area the education is pretty developed. As much as I can't stand my TAG Language Arts teacher, I'd rather have her class than yours. Maybe it'll be better for you a different year.
 
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Eilatan This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. said...
Apr. 25, 2010 at 11:01 am:
the comments section of this site is meant for constructive critisism and praise on our fellow writers' artistic expression, not random words and letters that jam up the comment boxes and disregard the actual peice of work.
 
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alisaysroar said...
Mar. 12, 2010 at 4:38 pm:
I've done this exercise before in my English course. It is a very clever way of portraying oneself. You've done a nice job :)
 
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PurpleMelody said...
Mar. 12, 2010 at 11:53 am:
This ia a good poem, but I don't feel like I fully understand who u are. It seems as though your just explaining things youv'e done.
 
demetria replied...
May 27, 2010 at 5:47 pm :
good critisism. thanx for not kissing butt like some other people.!!:)
 
PurpleMelody replied...
May 31, 2010 at 5:36 pm :
No prob :D
 
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abcisagirlygirlThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. said...
Feb. 18, 2010 at 5:55 pm:
this made my cry it was really good
 
ballergurl1313This teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. replied...
Apr. 25, 2010 at 10:51 am :
it wasn't good enought to make someone cry it was good but not that good.
 
abcisagirlygirlThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. replied...
Apr. 26, 2010 at 12:00 pm :
Yes  it was it was better than the things i write it was really really good keep
 
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Poet4ever said...
Feb. 12, 2010 at 2:29 pm:
love it. And great job
P.S. rock on Idaho!!!
 
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halo<3XOXOThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. said...
Dec. 15, 2009 at 7:19 pm:
this is really good. u might want to add a little more voice but the desciptions were awesome!
 
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melina said...
Dec. 14, 2009 at 10:03 pm:
I did a poem like this in school, and i can really tell how much this poem really pertains to yourself. i really like the rawness of the poem. please check out my poems/photo because theyre just posted and i need feedback.
 
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StephaniereThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. This work has been published in the Teen Ink monthly print magazine. said...
Dec. 14, 2009 at 7:34 pm:
Amazing, no lie.
Keep it up.
(:
 
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sasssgirrrl22 said...
Dec. 14, 2009 at 3:18 pm:
this is awesome. luv this poem. pretty deep :)
 
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project827 said...
Dec. 11, 2009 at 4:51 pm:
this poem makes me smile. :)
 
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Moonbeam13 said...
Nov. 25, 2009 at 3:39 pm:
Hola, Awesome poem! My mom's english class did poems like these for a class assignment.
 
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oddballinthegroup said...
Nov. 5, 2009 at 2:53 pm:
i was going to write another one of these i love these poems they let you express your self
 
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SapphireBeauty said...
Oct. 31, 2009 at 3:16 pm:
We had to something like this in my creative writing class...Mine sucked because I was hesitant about what I was suppose to say...This is really good
 
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SickImageThis teenager is a 'regular' and has contributed a lot of work, comments and/or forum posts, and has received many votes and high ratings over a long period of time. said...
Oct. 9, 2009 at 10:09 am:
"From Cosmo Kramer"
LOVE kramer :]
 
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dancerbaby21 said...
Sept. 22, 2009 at 3:37 pm:
wow...
itt reminds me of the poem Where I'm from by George Ella Lyon yett its really original,
I have to do one of these for my English 1 honors class itt was pretty hard... well Good Job thoughh(:
 
Moonbeam13 replied...
Nov. 25, 2009 at 3:40 pm :
Hey, what school do you go to cuz my mom tecaches English Honors. Do you go to baldwin?
 
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