Where I'm From Poems
"Each of us has a unique and powerful story to tell."
Watch the poems on Instagram HERE
Watch the poems on YouTube HERE
Listen to Alyson and George Ella chat HERE
Read an Interview about the series on Brevity Blog HERE
Listen to Alyson discuss the series on the Poetry Theatre podcast HERE
Read the story behind the poems, right here--->
Once upon a time, when memoirist and author of The Part That Burns, Jeannine Ouellette shared about the PAHS (Project for Advancing Healthcare Stewardship) Forums on her Facebook in 2021, I thought why not?
I’ve felt grateful for the health care I’ve received and as I’ve aged I’ve realized more and more how linked my care was to my privilege. When I was diagnosed with Melanoma at the age of 11 my dermatologist refused to believe it and promptly sent my sample to four more labs.
He was right. And I want to believe he would have provided the same care to someone who didn’t present like me, a white, wealthy gymnast whose father just happened to be a medical malpractice defense attorney—but let’s be honest, every single part of my formula contributed to receiving superlative care.
So when Jeannine shared about the PAHS forums, I felt drawn to them, almost as if they held something that was just for me.
And they did. Jeannine read the poem, “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon and shared the prompts that enabled each of us to write our own personal takes on the poem. We split into breakout rooms with the prompts and a partner to talk through the prompts and ostensibly work on our poem, but somehow I ended up getting very little of my own poem finished. I listened to my breakout room partner, who I know just a little from a Facebook group we’re both in. I loved listening to her run through the prompts and ultimately share a poem based on the prompt.
I didn’t finish my own writing that day. Not even close. And younger me would have been disappointed in this older me, not caring so much about achieving. But hey, older me is much more comfortable with perceived imperfections.
I listened to others share their brilliant poems. Honestly, they felt uniformly brilliant. And yes, they did overlap with the notion of health stewardship. More than anything, they spoke to that part of me that believes that each of us has a unique and powerful story to tell. It’s been proven true time and again. If I take the time to listen and the other takes the time and trusts me enough to share, as well, we’re both better for it.
A week or so after the forum, I decided to finish my own "Where I’m From" poem, even though I don’t consider myself a poet and haven’t written a poem in decades. Not a traditional poem that my poetry professor from college would grade with love (to be honest, I never wrote a poem that my poetry professor graded with love). But I write in all different forms and I was this many years old, as in, RIGHT NOW, when I finally looked up the definition of poetry:
“Literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.”
In this context, with these prompts, I am a poet and so are you.
After completing my poem, I reflected on how much I enjoyed listening to the other people/poets. And I thought, “What if I shared these prompts and people shared their poems with me? Could be fun.”
I did that, and guess what? It is fun. It’s like mad libs for micro memoir and as someone just called me, I’m a Memoir Advocate.
I want to hear your story. I believe in the power of your story.
It’s brought me such delight to connect with people (some writers and poets, some not) in this way.
So far, over the past couple of years, I've had the great joy and privilege to listen to the poems of and engage in wonderful conversation with:
2021
#1 Mesa Fama
#2 Angelique Gagnon
#3 Kelly Burch
#4 Judith van Praag
#5 Aimee Seiff Christian
#6 Tiffany Babb
#7 Alexis Donkin
#8 Emily Brisse
#9 Giselle Interiano
2022
#10 Elizabeth Heise
#11 Meg Nocero
#12 Stacy Mendell
#13 Ann Kelly
#14 Alyson Shelton & Anonymous
#15 Lucie Frost
#16 Vanessa King
#17 Peg Conway
#18 Emily Withnall
#19 Erik Sandstrom
#20 Aly Leavitt
#21 Maxine Lipner
#22 Fox Henry Frazier
#23 Gia Ruiz
#24 Buick Audra
#25 Michelle Yang
#26 Tonya Todd
#27 Maureen C. Berry
#28 Jody Ohlsen Collins
#29 Rosanna Staffa
#30 Lisa Rizzo
#31 Christina Mauro
#32 Meera Vijayann
#33 Jeannine Ouellette
#34 Lina Lau
#35 Ronit Plank
#36 Tria Wen
#37 Nisha Mody
#38 Kim Rowe
#39 Kassie J Runyan
#40 Eileen Drennen
#41 Katie Colt
#42 Melissa Meloro
#43 Heather Frese
#44 Lynn Shattuck
#45 Miranda Vatterott
#46 George Ella Lyon
#47 Ria Carrogan
#48 Asha Dore
#49 Amy Rogers
#50 Mya McDowell
#51 Myriam Steinberg
#52 Becca Andrews
#53 Gillian Jorgensen
#54 Jacqueline Whitmore
#55 Carolyn Freyer-Jones
#56 Morgan Baker
#57 Michael Prywes
#58 Sonya Ewan
#59 Jessica Petelle
#60 Ada McCartney
#61 Casey Mulligan Walsh
#62 Kirsten Voris
#63 Rebecca Gummere
#64 Ellen Birkett Morris
2023
#65 Kimberly Knowle-Zeller
#66 Kara Tatelbaum
#67 Rachael Petru
#68 Eileen Vorbach Collins
#69 Alyson Shelton (2023 version)
#70 Margo Fowkes
#71 Natalie Serber
#72 Andrea A. Firth
#73 Ari Honarvar
#74 Devon Fredericksen
#75 Theo Pauline Nestor
#76 Ivana Shein
#77 Emi Nietfeld
#78 Dorothy Dillingham Blue
#79 Vanessa Foster
#80 Mike Burton
#81 Jess Davies
#82 Lisa Rayne
#83 Elise McCall
#84 Heidi Barr
#85 Sara Blair
#86 Maud Newton
#87 Jo-Ann S. Finkelstein
#88 Dan Brazier
#89 Paul McGuigan
#90 Michelle Bowdler
#91 A.R. Farina
#92 Blake Byles
#93 Tammy Evans
#94 Roz Morris
#95 Sara Letourneau
#96 Elizabeth Marian Charles
#97 Katherine Anne Gilbert
#98 Natalie Serianni
#99 Brenan Yack
#100 Cody Shelton
#101 Natasha Israni
#102 Karen DeBonis
#103 Julie Cantrell
#104 Linda Jellison
#105 Gina Ransom
#106 Grace Talusan
#107 Katie Post
#108 Amy Hruby
#109 Angie Chatman
#110 Blair Glaser
#111 Dave Horrocks
#112 Rebekkah Dilts
#113 Wendy Wimmer
#114 Jessica Waite
#115 Seth Singleton
#116 Sarah Leibov
#117 Melissa Greenwood
#118 Anne Pinkerton
#119 Mary Butler
#120 Tamara MC
#121 Krista Turnbull
2024
#122 Lisa Cooper Ellison
#123 Kelly McMasters
#124 Joelle Tamraz
#125 Alyson Shelton (2024 Version)
#126 Jennifer Lang
#127 Nicole Graev Lipson
#128 joj
#129 Joanna Rakoff
#130 Jocelyn Jane Cox
#131 Debbie Weiss
#132 Mimi Zieman
#133 Megan Hutchings
#134 Jenny Bartoy
#135 Annie Finch
#136 Diane Gottlieb
#137 Anna Abraham Gasaway
#138 Melinda Gordon Blum
#139 Nikki Andrew
#140 Alana Omolayole
#141 Jackie Tempera
#142 Jennie Burke
#143 Micah Klassen
#144 Hannah Sward
#145 Kristine Kopperud
#146 Olga Katsovskiy
#147 Molly Fowkes
#148 Ona Gritz
#149 Freda Love Smith
#150 Rebecca Morrison
#151 Kim Kelly Stamp
#152 Judy Lipson
#153 Colette Freedman
#154 Colleen Golafshan
#155 Andréa Ferrell Gannon
#156 Katie Ware
#157 Charlotte Wilkins
#158 Jacque Gorelick
#159 Shoshana Koch
#160 Diane Zinna
#161 Claire Polders
#162 Marie Cloutier
#163 Estelle Erasmus
#164 Kelly Thompson
#165 Zebadiah Demorest
If you’re interested in joining me on Instagram live and sharing a poem of your own, please, please email me at: [email protected] or DM me @byalysonshelton on Instagram
I’m happy to send you the prompts. Please do reach out.
Watch the poems on Instagram HERE
Watch the poems on YouTube HERE
Listen to Alyson and George Ella chat HERE
Read an Interview about the series on Brevity Blog HERE
Listen to Alyson discuss the series on the Poetry Theatre podcast HERE
Read the story behind the poems, right here--->
Once upon a time, when memoirist and author of The Part That Burns, Jeannine Ouellette shared about the PAHS (Project for Advancing Healthcare Stewardship) Forums on her Facebook in 2021, I thought why not?
I’ve felt grateful for the health care I’ve received and as I’ve aged I’ve realized more and more how linked my care was to my privilege. When I was diagnosed with Melanoma at the age of 11 my dermatologist refused to believe it and promptly sent my sample to four more labs.
He was right. And I want to believe he would have provided the same care to someone who didn’t present like me, a white, wealthy gymnast whose father just happened to be a medical malpractice defense attorney—but let’s be honest, every single part of my formula contributed to receiving superlative care.
So when Jeannine shared about the PAHS forums, I felt drawn to them, almost as if they held something that was just for me.
And they did. Jeannine read the poem, “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon and shared the prompts that enabled each of us to write our own personal takes on the poem. We split into breakout rooms with the prompts and a partner to talk through the prompts and ostensibly work on our poem, but somehow I ended up getting very little of my own poem finished. I listened to my breakout room partner, who I know just a little from a Facebook group we’re both in. I loved listening to her run through the prompts and ultimately share a poem based on the prompt.
I didn’t finish my own writing that day. Not even close. And younger me would have been disappointed in this older me, not caring so much about achieving. But hey, older me is much more comfortable with perceived imperfections.
I listened to others share their brilliant poems. Honestly, they felt uniformly brilliant. And yes, they did overlap with the notion of health stewardship. More than anything, they spoke to that part of me that believes that each of us has a unique and powerful story to tell. It’s been proven true time and again. If I take the time to listen and the other takes the time and trusts me enough to share, as well, we’re both better for it.
A week or so after the forum, I decided to finish my own "Where I’m From" poem, even though I don’t consider myself a poet and haven’t written a poem in decades. Not a traditional poem that my poetry professor from college would grade with love (to be honest, I never wrote a poem that my poetry professor graded with love). But I write in all different forms and I was this many years old, as in, RIGHT NOW, when I finally looked up the definition of poetry:
“Literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm.”
In this context, with these prompts, I am a poet and so are you.
After completing my poem, I reflected on how much I enjoyed listening to the other people/poets. And I thought, “What if I shared these prompts and people shared their poems with me? Could be fun.”
I did that, and guess what? It is fun. It’s like mad libs for micro memoir and as someone just called me, I’m a Memoir Advocate.
I want to hear your story. I believe in the power of your story.
It’s brought me such delight to connect with people (some writers and poets, some not) in this way.
So far, over the past couple of years, I've had the great joy and privilege to listen to the poems of and engage in wonderful conversation with:
2021
#1 Mesa Fama
#2 Angelique Gagnon
#3 Kelly Burch
#4 Judith van Praag
#5 Aimee Seiff Christian
#6 Tiffany Babb
#7 Alexis Donkin
#8 Emily Brisse
#9 Giselle Interiano
2022
#10 Elizabeth Heise
#11 Meg Nocero
#12 Stacy Mendell
#13 Ann Kelly
#14 Alyson Shelton & Anonymous
#15 Lucie Frost
#16 Vanessa King
#17 Peg Conway
#18 Emily Withnall
#19 Erik Sandstrom
#20 Aly Leavitt
#21 Maxine Lipner
#22 Fox Henry Frazier
#23 Gia Ruiz
#24 Buick Audra
#25 Michelle Yang
#26 Tonya Todd
#27 Maureen C. Berry
#28 Jody Ohlsen Collins
#29 Rosanna Staffa
#30 Lisa Rizzo
#31 Christina Mauro
#32 Meera Vijayann
#33 Jeannine Ouellette
#34 Lina Lau
#35 Ronit Plank
#36 Tria Wen
#37 Nisha Mody
#38 Kim Rowe
#39 Kassie J Runyan
#40 Eileen Drennen
#41 Katie Colt
#42 Melissa Meloro
#43 Heather Frese
#44 Lynn Shattuck
#45 Miranda Vatterott
#46 George Ella Lyon
#47 Ria Carrogan
#48 Asha Dore
#49 Amy Rogers
#50 Mya McDowell
#51 Myriam Steinberg
#52 Becca Andrews
#53 Gillian Jorgensen
#54 Jacqueline Whitmore
#55 Carolyn Freyer-Jones
#56 Morgan Baker
#57 Michael Prywes
#58 Sonya Ewan
#59 Jessica Petelle
#60 Ada McCartney
#61 Casey Mulligan Walsh
#62 Kirsten Voris
#63 Rebecca Gummere
#64 Ellen Birkett Morris
2023
#65 Kimberly Knowle-Zeller
#66 Kara Tatelbaum
#67 Rachael Petru
#68 Eileen Vorbach Collins
#69 Alyson Shelton (2023 version)
#70 Margo Fowkes
#71 Natalie Serber
#72 Andrea A. Firth
#73 Ari Honarvar
#74 Devon Fredericksen
#75 Theo Pauline Nestor
#76 Ivana Shein
#77 Emi Nietfeld
#78 Dorothy Dillingham Blue
#79 Vanessa Foster
#80 Mike Burton
#81 Jess Davies
#82 Lisa Rayne
#83 Elise McCall
#84 Heidi Barr
#85 Sara Blair
#86 Maud Newton
#87 Jo-Ann S. Finkelstein
#88 Dan Brazier
#89 Paul McGuigan
#90 Michelle Bowdler
#91 A.R. Farina
#92 Blake Byles
#93 Tammy Evans
#94 Roz Morris
#95 Sara Letourneau
#96 Elizabeth Marian Charles
#97 Katherine Anne Gilbert
#98 Natalie Serianni
#99 Brenan Yack
#100 Cody Shelton
#101 Natasha Israni
#102 Karen DeBonis
#103 Julie Cantrell
#104 Linda Jellison
#105 Gina Ransom
#106 Grace Talusan
#107 Katie Post
#108 Amy Hruby
#109 Angie Chatman
#110 Blair Glaser
#111 Dave Horrocks
#112 Rebekkah Dilts
#113 Wendy Wimmer
#114 Jessica Waite
#115 Seth Singleton
#116 Sarah Leibov
#117 Melissa Greenwood
#118 Anne Pinkerton
#119 Mary Butler
#120 Tamara MC
#121 Krista Turnbull
2024
#122 Lisa Cooper Ellison
#123 Kelly McMasters
#124 Joelle Tamraz
#125 Alyson Shelton (2024 Version)
#126 Jennifer Lang
#127 Nicole Graev Lipson
#128 joj
#129 Joanna Rakoff
#130 Jocelyn Jane Cox
#131 Debbie Weiss
#132 Mimi Zieman
#133 Megan Hutchings
#134 Jenny Bartoy
#135 Annie Finch
#136 Diane Gottlieb
#137 Anna Abraham Gasaway
#138 Melinda Gordon Blum
#139 Nikki Andrew
#140 Alana Omolayole
#141 Jackie Tempera
#142 Jennie Burke
#143 Micah Klassen
#144 Hannah Sward
#145 Kristine Kopperud
#146 Olga Katsovskiy
#147 Molly Fowkes
#148 Ona Gritz
#149 Freda Love Smith
#150 Rebecca Morrison
#151 Kim Kelly Stamp
#152 Judy Lipson
#153 Colette Freedman
#154 Colleen Golafshan
#155 Andréa Ferrell Gannon
#156 Katie Ware
#157 Charlotte Wilkins
#158 Jacque Gorelick
#159 Shoshana Koch
#160 Diane Zinna
#161 Claire Polders
#162 Marie Cloutier
#163 Estelle Erasmus
#164 Kelly Thompson
#165 Zebadiah Demorest
If you’re interested in joining me on Instagram live and sharing a poem of your own, please, please email me at: [email protected] or DM me @byalysonshelton on Instagram
I’m happy to send you the prompts. Please do reach out.