2024/Masyn-

I am from the Land of Jazz.

From the mascot Bob Marley and the beating of reggae drums.

I am from the amazing city of music under the sky and heavens.

Good food, spicy curry and goat. It tasted like it was from the gods.

I am from a community that is one family.

The home of my mom, uncle, and grandparents

whose memories of my relatives

I remember as if they were my own.

I’m from Chesapeake and the world’s fastest sprinters

From A modern city and an old country.

I’m from the flowering dogwood and island rhythms

From a place of hip-hop and beautiful beaches

I’m from a home I will always have like a dandelion in a field of green grass

With a family that loves me no matter what, like purple loves all colors

And ten hobbies I can and chores I can do myself.

I am from moments of dread and happiness

Like a cold winter and a warm summer

From the memories lost

To the curse of time and the ages

Used to keep me going in the shackles of school.

Under my bed was a monster known as anxiety and depression

Spilling into my brain after Dad died

The monster that came and then went away

To drift beneath my dreams.

I am from those moments -

Of despair before I met my friends -

From the moment I fell from the sky.

Even through it all, I still rise.