Strong and Weathered Arms Over the Fence

There's a beautiful poem titled Where I'm From, by George Ella Lyon, which inspired me to write my own version of that poem. I think of it often, especially now, when eggplants abound. When I was about 10, a large, extended Italian family from Brooklyn built a too-big house on the lot next to ours, and then ripped up their entire backyard and turned it into a garden. This was shocking to the neighbors and extraordinarily intriguing to me.

While shooting baskets after dinner in my yard, I used to peer over the fence at the wonder of that garden. What I think fascinated me so much was that this family valued their garden above every other possible use of that backyard. There was literally not one inch for a lawn chair or a picnic table, a swing set or a basketball hoop.

My mother and Mrs. D (as we called her) became a bit friendly over the years, and it was often that I would be interrupted from my game of 'Round the World by Mrs. D's strong and weathered arms over the fence offering us glorious aubergine eggplants.

So instead of wishing the end of the eggplants, which is how I felt last week, I decided to honor them yesterday. To honor them and the memory of Mrs. D and the seed that her garden and others I experienced must have planted in my heart. And so, my One Local Summer meal this week is this eggplant parmigiana and these simple, orange cherry tomatoes, the type you'd pluck from a neighbor's garden while playing basketball.

Here is my poem:

I am from big, heavy eggplants
Passed over one chain-linked fence
And Nabisco cookies from a salesman’s trunk
Passed over the other.

I am from moths swarming around the back light
Outside the open window
Where dishes get hand-washed and air-dried.

I am from Italian ices
Flipped over in the cup and eaten on the curb
With little wooden spoons.

I am from a spare key
Tucked under the dwarf made in Ceramics class
And a bike always laying
Where that patch of grass won’t grow.

I am from lasagna and blueberry pancakes
And thumbprint cookies at Christmas.

I am from the Mets game on the radio
Over the fridge at dinner.

I am from the third house on the right.

Where are you from?

Strong and Weathered Arms Over the Fence