From 2004 to 2016, I taught freshman/intro writing courses at UNCG, Elon University, and Guilford College in NC. Every semester, I’d begin with the same first assignment: compose your own version of Mary Pipher’s “I Am From” poem.

The poem comes from Pipher’s book The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community (July 2003). It reads:

I am from Avis and Frank, Agnes and Fred, Glessie May and Mark.
From the Ozark Mountains and the high plains of Eastern Colorado,
From mountain snowmelt and lazy southern creeks filled with water moccasins.
I am from oatmeal eaters, gizzard eaters, haggis and raccoon eaters.
I’m from craziness, darkness, sensuality, and humor.
From intense do-gooders struggling through ranch winters in the 1920s.
I’m from “If you can’t say anything nice about someone don’t say anything” and “Pretty is as pretty does” and “Shit-mucklety brown” and “Damn it all to hell.”
I’m from no-dancing-or-drinking Methodists, but cards were okay except on Sunday, and from tent-meeting Holy Rollers,
From farmers, soldiers, bootleggers, and teachers.
I’m from Schwinn girl’s bike, 1950 Mercury two-door, and West Side Story.
I’m from coyotes, baby field mice, chlorinous swimming pools, Milky Way and harvest moon over Nebraska cornfields.
I’m from muddy Platte and Republican,
From cottonwood and mulberry, tumbleweed and switchgrass
From Willa Cather, Walt Whitman, and Janis Joplin,
My own sweet dance unfolding against a cast of women in aprons and barefoot men in overalls.

I loved how students would pour their hearts and souls into their poems, and reading them became my favorite tradition in the classroom. I would often write a version, too. While it feels like an anxiety-inducing amount of personal info to put online, my version is below. 

Working on this poem every year It helped (and continues to help) remind me that all writing is rewriting: you start with something you know and then revisit it again and again on the page. That, and every good editor is worth 1000 good writers. Mine is awesome.

Anyway, here’s “Wonderwall!”:

I am from Susan and Stephen, Mary and R.L., Mary and Tom,

From Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains and the sub-sea level cobblestones of Charleston,

From nuclear summers never more than 75 yards from water.

I am from eggs and toast breakfasts, sandwich lunches, and sensible dinners (3 times a day).

I am from loyalty, grief, fear, and generosity,

From stern, Depression Era caution and work ethic.

I’m from “You’re pushing it” to “The morning doesn’t start until you walk in” to “No it was not a heart attack” to “Moose Man.”

I’m from church every Sunday (but getting to eat out for lunch after) and strict tv allowance (but I could stay up to watch Golden Girls and SNL),

From soldiers, scientists, lawyers, and wanderers.

I’m from hand-me-down Legos to my own sets to a 1992 wax box of Donruss for getting good grades to a shared Nintendo that was very generously mostly mine.

I’m from being in a pool every hour from Memorial to Labor Day and calloused feet from lifeguarding on baking pavement,

From Dad on Orion’s Belt and stargazing after Lessons and Carols in December.

I’m from an Ashley, a Cooper, and centrist Democrats,

From sweetgrass and pluff mud on the breeze and mosquitoes the size of horseflies,

From Mozart to McMurtry to “Meet the Beatles” (and no other album of theirs),

My own solo performance set against a backdrop of love and sacrifice.

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