Where I'm From

Sometimes I’m baffled the responses I get when I
Answer the question of where I’m from.
I'm a Brooklyn baby, born and bred in the borough
But when people hear decent grammar,
they also don't expect to hear
that I was born in Brookdale Hospital, right off the B35
or that I grew up on Bradford and Livonia,
a couple of blocks from the 3.
Back in the day you would have easily found me
playing in the yard of PS 13 or
giggling with my friends in front of IS 292
or hanging out at the pizza shop around the corner from Brooklyn Tech -
or working at my first real job at the Burger King in Fulton Mall
or kissing my first love while in the glory of Promenade’s panorama.
Nowadays, you can find me at the only law school
that goes by the name of my borough
(yea that's right, I said its MY borough)
And I claim Brooklyn just as it claimed me
years before my birth, when mother came
from Jamaica, dreaming of the stairs she would climb
as she moved away from the land of wood and water
to the birthplace of her future daughter,
attempting to attain something better.
Many look down on Brooklyn
But many know of its promise of a better life -
The one it gave my mother decades ago.
I'm not just from Brooklyn - I am Brooklyn
for I am the realization of the promise
given to my mother and many others -
I am the accumulation of opportunities it holds
and the continuing result of Brooklyn’s hopes come true.
So while I might appear to some to be from somewhere else
I won't shape my answers to their questions
by their misconceptions
of what it means to be from Brooklyn.
© 2007 Patricia B.

----
Ok yea, I should be studying for the MPRE, but I was inspired to write while rocking out to some Mos Def tracks. This poem is actually a work in progress - I might clean it up a bit, maybe add more, or maybe write another poem about me and Brooklyn? There's just so much that I can say.

Missing you.

So I know I haven't been writing
But I've been striving, trying
to make myself a little bit better
which has me in this rat race
trying to escape
while getting pushed and shoved and smacked in the face...
It's been brutal,
because I'm chasing my other passion
While holding tightly to you:
My pen, my words, my craft, my love.
But my other goals and dreams often draw me away,
So I just came back briefly to say
That because I'm not always with you
Don't think I've forgotten about you
Because in my writing lies my heart
And I'm not sure where I'll end,
but you are where my life starts...
© 2007 Patricia B.
----
Ok seriously though - I haven't written in a couple of weeks and I MISS IT!!!! Man. Things are so busy and they are about to get busier - I have to take the MPRE in two weeks, I am looking for a job AND then I have to deal with being a busy law student. Argh! I was just sitting here reading about shareholder lawsuits and derivative actions for my Corporations class and just felt this urge to write something. And there you have it. I'm not even sure if it makes complete sense right now - I'm feeling too flustered to look at it objectively. I just needed to get out what was in my head.

Writing is really my first great love - my first great passion. It hasn't gone away but now it's competing with my journey to attorneydom. If only I could find a way to combine the two... (and no, writing legal memoranda and such does not do it for me... )

In this moment...

In this moment, I want to save the world from itself
Or change it for the better, at least in some small way.
I want to drape myself in red
Because I’m hot and red suits my passion
Or maybe quench my fire in some deep cool blue sea
with black sand beaches, while being held by
the hands of some beautiful man.
I want a beautiful man with compassionate character
and exceptional qualities
I want a man to love me for my mind, my spirit and my body
I want to love my imperfect body.
I want to be healthy.
I want physical prosperity and to possess a financial portfolio
Of tremendous magnitude. While I’m at it, I want to shake myself
Of the attitude that has kept me mired in debt
But has kept me looking fly – which reminds me,
I want those chocolate brown suede knee high boots
I saw in that store’s window today. I want some dark chocolate,
And also to go away to see other foreign cities and countries.
I want to go to my mother’s country
And help the people there who live with less than I do
Because as much as I want in this moment,
Ultimately, I just want to save the world from itself,
Or change it for the better, at least in some small way.

© 2007 Patricia B.