Stefanie Allison, known to A Word with You Press as the elusively named star5fallonmyheart, offers you a poem for A Word with You Writer’s Showcase about the ties that bind, and the family history that defines us (whether we’re conscious of it or not).  Where do you come from?  What lands, what cultures, what conflicts, what traditions, what individuals and what twists of fate collided to create the lineage that has become distinctly and individually you? Might you have an affinity for these things, hidden in the complex genetic recesses of your mind and your body, your likes and dislikes, your attitudes and aptitudes?  Maybe the answer is just a click away.

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Researching the Family Name

No, I don’t look Filipino

Maybe you can guess I’m white

If you know my dad’s face

It all comes together

With a few clicks

And a promise

Of a virus scan

It doesn’t give you world history

Just the snipped portion of the portrait all about

Your lengthy, coiled, knotted bloodline

Poetry runs deep

In the fields

In the Basque

Ugalde family

Maybe far back

I have Andalusian blood

That survived after Lorca’s was spilled

Overrun by Moors

They swam across the sea

To own what they lost

To give us their name

When the beaten

Becomes the beater

Humanity has a short memory

Though they took

Your freedom

You now have

This identity

For better or for worse

You are what you are

And for that, I am alive

It is now

Our identity

Of the rich names

And rich words

The poetry of a land

Of its free fields and spicy soil

Flows through our name and my blood

Smooth my hair

Pin the rose

I will down the Flamenco dress

And dance to the Spanish guitars

As I watch the red flow of my gown

I am captivated by the river of my blood

Enticing me to be immersed

I will swim and be carried away

By the rushing water

To the ocean

Leading me back to me

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Thank you, Stefanie!  Readers, please leave your insights and feedback about this poem-in-progress in the Comments box below.