Poem

by Jack Cartier

I am from tempting kitchen smells,
from the big oak tree
in the front yard, from
a family adorned with eyeglasses,
from soccer.

I am from French, my first language,
English, my second,
and now I begin to leap Spanish,
my third hurdle.

I am from books;
books that make me smart,
books that make me laugh,
books that make me think,
books that make me wonder.

I am from animals;
dinosaurs, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs;
dogs, wolves, dingoes, jackals;
snakes, crocodiles, lizards;
ostriches, owls, hornbills;
fish, kangaroos, and everything else.

I am from Bulungamayines,
plate tectonics,
the cosmos, the Big Bang,
Newton, da Vinci, Einstein, Flannery, Horner, Gould;
science.

I am from the gouges by the speed bump
(which people don't seem to notice- that explains the dents)
from the smell of barbecues, birch trees,
asphalt and the neighbor's dog;
from the succulent taste of cookies,
the metallic tang of my retainer,
the all-important taste of spaghetti,
and from the sounds of the highway
and the subway, the freeway and
the roadway;
dogs' barks and squirrels' chatter.

I am from S** and L***,
my brother C****,
from are you done reading yet?
from are we there yet?
can we go now?
can't I come?
what, do I have to?
whyyy?
I am from different people,
from the tree-sitters at Cal
to the captains at the Port
to the beggars in the street
to the friends at school
to the neighbor's drums banging till 10:00
and to all the different people that
make my city.

That's me.