I’m from back alley basketball games on Dorchester
Boat rides off of High Park
From grandparents who grew up in the deep south and lived to tell about it

From a grandpa who beat cancer
But didn’t survive a headache

I’m from the fruit man selling oranges under the bridge
The world that keeps ticking like a clock
Even when you wish time would stop...

I’m from curfew breaking bowling games
A summer league that kept going months after the warmth was gone
From skilled strikes and enthusiastic gutter balls

From a friend who can put an X in each box
Just like the ones on his arm

I’m from middle school hallways echoing with slurs
Trashed notebooks scrawled with insults
From rumors flying faster than a fighter jet…

I’m from the South
The North
The Midwest
From places an afro is not a common occurrence

From a school where I was too black for the white kids
But too white for the black kids

I’m from a family
Where respect will get you further than any prayer
Where it doesn’t matter what you do, but how you do it
From a mother who tells me “any place you are, is where you belong”...

I am from back alley basketball games
I am from curfew breaking night bowling
I am from here and there
I am from wherever I please