where were you born?
Q: where were you born?
A: momma spit me out one night in cleveland ohio a mile
or so from the hospital wanted my first sight to be the stars
shinning on a summer night in ohio momma say why they
so pearly she can’t remember her daddy told her
something about cherokee girls born in starlight fated to
attract all kinds of cosmic favors from the gods daddy said
one god is all his flock need to concern ourselves with we
were lucky daddy was there to shepherd us in the name of
the lord god what we need to know about starlight or tree
gods or baths in rivers when we got a shower & a roof at
home hand me your prayers & ill deliver them onto our
lord god the big big man in the sky big big man of our one
room shack nailed & hammered out of dead gods daddy
felled himself
to fasten a roof as sky stars made of light bulbs over my
crib lighting momma’s mouth as she sang me a song about
stars burning bright on nights much like the night she spite
me out in cleveland ohio
Dillon Thomas Jones is a writer living in Pittsburgh, PA. He holds a BA in English (Creative Writing) from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and is an MFA in Creative Writing candidate at the University of Pittsburgh.