Where I’m From

Where I’m From

BY RICHENDA FAIRHURST

I am in Southern Oregon,
But I am from a long way from here
I come from Angles, Scots, 
Britons, jutes,
A little Roma, a little Moor.

I was pried up 
from where I was born 
my footsteps are scattered 
across nations—
across continents.

And now here. Oregon. 
Jackson County. Rogue Valley. 
The applegate. 
Land of the Takelma. 
Landscape of the Shasta.

A breadbasket. Pioneered, 
log cut, farm cut land 
bearded by forest,
planted with cannabis, 
grapes, and pears. 

I am from Southern Oregon. 
A red heart district 
with the water of the Rogue 
and Umpqua rivers 
as blue as anywhere 
you’d find it. 

My heart, my lungs expand 
Breathing in the cool 
autumn air, 
and the smoke 
and the ash 
of 20 years of drought.