We Are From

From my Social Literature classes last Tuesday, our second day together.

(We each wrote our own I Am From poem, then contributed a line to make a collaborative one.)

We Are From

We are from Flatbush Brooklyn where the Crips call it Crooklyn

We are from the hood

We are from .50 sodas and quarter bags of chips

We are from everything spicy

We are from Aunt Adrienne's lasange at Thanksgiving.

We are from "If you don't pass your classes, don't ask for shit for Christmas."

We are from double-dutch and freeze tag

We are from staying out, getting right, to coming in late at night.

We are from mommies, our dreams, evergreens.

We are from roti and curry chicken.

We are from under my bed, "keep trying, never give up."

We are from the borough of Brooklyn where either you with us or against us.

*

We Are From

We are from summer afternoons of Mister Softy and strawberry ice cream.

We are from Blind Man's Bluff and freeze tag.

We are from where there is no winter.

We are from Big Meech and Hoover.

We are from the streets of broken bottles and "You can be whoever you want to be if you put your mind to it."

We are from big hearts and open arms.

We are from the hills of love and hope.

We are from Brooklyn: East New York, Crown Heights, Canarsie, Brownsville, Bed-Stuy, Flatbush, Fort Greene, Farragut, Coney Island.

We are from Polo tennis skirts, Gucci button downs, Burberry jackets, pants and t-shirts.

We are from Yankee fitteds to Pradas.

*

We Are From

We are from skelly in the park

spliffs after dark.

We are from backyard parties and Wet Fete to Labor Day and Reggae Summerfest.

We are from Tommy to Polo,

from talkin' to ridin' Dolo.

We are from where you're not.

We are from whippins' for crazy reasons like diggin in the pot.

We are from Mommy's Oxtail and rice and peas on Sundays.

We are from Veronica's Place in Flatbush where the kids come to play

We are from shootouts and gunfights

Ruff necks and dirt bikes milli.

We are from Martin Luther King to always fighting in the ring

We are from Madame CJ Walker and experiments for hair and

from my nagging Aunt screaming "don't you dare."

We are from my favorite Lenny's pizza shop where I eat chicken till I pass out.

We are from sitting in my room to playing hide and seek.

We are from playing Nintendo to listening to "knock yourself OUT."

We are from Brownsville, never ran never will.