Journal

where do i come from?

Audreau likes reading books about black people.
Brenda likes reading books about Mexican people.
I don’t especially like reading books about Irish people.
Books about American people are ok.
But American people are young.
Their stories are young, too.
I come from a lake where a girl drowned.
A log sits under the surface of the water.
I imagine that Ann will grab me when I stand on it.
Or a snake.
I get scared and swim away.
I come from a road that my great-grandpa built.
With a brick patio and flowers and empty barrels.
And with windows that open to take people’s money when they want to buy apples.
I come from a dad who painted the windows shut.
And who takes me there to listen and look at the empty fields.
And beautiful empty barns.

-Rosie