2013PoetryB3

Poetry, Grades 10-12: Third Place

Where I’m From — Amy Frenkel

I am from a luminous ball of radiation
from subatomic particles condensed into matter.
I am from galaxies and stars.
(Cosmological occurrences
I thank God for.)
I am clearly from dichotomy.
I am from the Promised Land,
a fact I embrace today
and yet my ancestors
were obliged to conceal
during the extermination —
rest in peace. I am from Grandpa,
a religious man who passed on —
from this sacred light
I never met
but I live and shine for today.
I’m from those who came
before me
yet exist for those
who might follow —
A miniscule particle of dust
in this prodigious
cosmic home.
I am from all
of these contrarieties,
from polarities. I am from the industrial
city of Bridgeport, Connecticut
from the cornfields
of rural Iowa —
from the suburbs now.
I am still from that luminous ball of radiation
that must’ve been brought
into existence by the Almighty.
I am from neither the concrete
nor the abstract
but a compromise between the two —
equidistant from the extremities
you can find me there,
waiting,
contentedly lost in the middle.