{"id":688,"date":"2020-10-15T23:44:20","date_gmt":"2020-10-15T23:44:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=688"},"modified":"2020-10-16T00:32:38","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T00:32:38","slug":"poem-of-the-month-i-am-from-by-ruby-parra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/?p=688","title":{"rendered":"Poem of the Month: I Am From by Ruby Parra"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am from my old wooden dresser
\nhanded down to me from my father\u2019s childhood
\nslapped with my random stickers
\nfrom over the years
\nthat were hard to peel off
\nwhen I got too old for them<\/p>\n

I am from the Pizzanista sticker
\nwith a wrinkle in it
\non the street sign at my corner
\nstill there from the night, long ago,
\nwhen that was still my favorite restaurant
\nand I was still small enough
\nto be lifted onto my daddy\u2019s shoulders
\nto put it up there.
\n(And from my mom scolding him
\nfor letting me do that.)<\/p>\n

I am from the Meyer lemon tree
\nin our backyard
\nthat bites me with its thorns
\nwhen I\u2019m sent out back to gather
\ningredients for lemonade.
\nAnd from avoiding the lowest hanging fruit
\nbecause of spiderwebs.<\/p>\n

I am from pranking —
\nand being pranked —
\non our family\u2019s favorite holiday:
\nApril Fool\u2019s.<\/p>\n

I am from laughing so hard I can\u2019t even breathe.
\nFrom family jokes
\nand calling my grandparents in Wisconsin
\nevery day
\nto retell funny stories from our lives
\nto make them laugh, too.<\/p>\n

I am from hilarious parents,
\neach funny in their own ways,
\nwho crack each other up
\nand have taught us the art
\nof teasing each other
\nand not taking ourselves too seriously.<\/p>\n

I am from always being answered with
\n\u201cmaybe\u201d or \u201cwe\u2019ll see\u201d
\nby distracted parents
\nand grumbling with my brother.<\/p>\n

From my grandpa whispering
\n\u201cWho will know the secrets of the sea?\u201d
\nand encouraging us to explore our minds.<\/p>\n

I am from Hamilton<\/i> songs
\nand memorizing lyrics
\nwith my trap of a brain.
\nI am from dancing to unwind
\nand forget my troubles.
\nFrom choreographing with my best friend
\nand the rush of excitement from performing on stage.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m from chocolate chip banana bread
\nand purple power smoothies.
\nI am from the steaming sesame buns
\nat Din Tai Fung that are worth the two-hour wait to sit down.<\/p>\n

I am from my mom\u2019s famous baking
\nand themed cakes
\ndecorated with colorful sprinkles and banners
\nfor every occasion.<\/p>\n

I am from my dad\u2019s restaurants
\nwhere he is a chef,
\nand delicious food
\nthat is sometimes named for me.<\/p>\n

I am from my beloved baby brother,
\nNico,
\nbeing born too soon,
\nand being fed popsicles by Zak\u2019s mom
\n<\/span>who was trying to keep my mind off
\nthe news I was waiting for.<\/p>\n

I am from worrying about Nico
\nduring his first two years
\nwhen he kept landing himself
\nin the hospital.
\nAnd from helping with his speech therapy
\nAnd pretending to be his mom.<\/p>\n

I am also from Nico
\ngetting bigger
\nstronger
\nand more embarrassing
\nover the years.<\/p>\n

I am from Klub Gymnastics
\nand movie nights there.
\nAnd from Nico walking out of their bathroom
\ninto the crowded gym
\nwith no pants on
\nyelling for me to help him with his underwear.<\/p>\n

I am from a tiny apartment in Brooklyn,
\nand shared beds.<\/p>\n

From a strong immune system
\nmy mom swears is because
\nI licked the poles inside of subway cars
\nwhen I was little.<\/p>\n

I am from doing whatever it takes
\nto wear my parents down
\nso they would finally get me a dog
\nlike I\u2019d dreamed of for years.<\/p>\n

I am from having to quickly adapt to online learning
\nand sheltering in place
\nin a tiny house
\nwith my mom, dad, brother, dog, and two cats.
\nI am from being at my grandparents\u2019 house
\nevery day after school
\nto suddenly only being able to see them
\nfrom a distance
\n<\/span>with a mask on my face.
\nFrom my grandma sending me
\ndaily postcards
\nfrom a few miles away.<\/p>\n

I am from my ancestors
\nfrom Chile
\nfrom Mexico
\nfrom Europe
\nfrom the Mayflower
\nfrom an Inca princess.
\nAnd I am from
\nmyself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ruby is in 6th grade at Thomas Starr King middle school in\u00a0Los Angeles. \u00a0This is her first published poem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am from my old wooden dresser handed down to me from my father\u2019s childhood slapped with my random stickers […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"Layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-noellesickelswp","post-688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-allposts","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=688"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":701,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688\/revisions\/701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noellesickels.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}