Maureen C. Berry

Where I'm From · Mar 10, 2026 · 35m

Where I'm From #27

By Maureen C. Berry

Inspired by George Ella Lyon

I am from buttercream yellow kitchen walls,

From a General Electric avocado green stove and The Good Housekeeping Cookbook.

I am from the tiger lilies pushing up against the chain-linked fence.

(Orange, erect, between patches of urine-soaked lawn from the dogs.)

I am from the Rose of Sharon

The neighbor’s elm

Whose limbs stole across our yard blanketing pollen

Like snow

Every spring.

I am from Easter baskets and hand-me-downs,

Mary Margaret and Patrick Dixon.

I’m from the “Get that dog outta heres”

And “Be home before the…