Winner of the Toni Morrison Day Creative Writing Contest 2025
I am from lace veils and white dresses,
Generations of “in sickness and in health” in Italian-Polish tongues,
Strong women, Sunday dinners made with love,
Traditions that weave us together.
I am from the quick-witted and strong blue eyes of my Irish grandmother,
The matriarch who held us all,
An angel she became—a memory back she gained.
Christmas with presents scattered all over the house and full tables
Is now a Christmas with unraveled ribbons, empty chairs, and lost sisterhood.
Raised in la-la land,
A protective bubble of child-like wonder
Popped too early from mental illness under our roof,
I am the oldest sibling,
The house leans on me.
I’m from mirrors and scales,
Disney princesses and “beauty is pain,”
Chasing forever love and impossible standards.
I only learn in my late twenties to choose loving myself first.
From big circle to small,
I am from two friends who know me, heart and soul,
Where laughter and love are my dopamine.
True girlhood does exist, between the love I give, the self I lose.
I’m from dedication and hard work,
Exhaustion paid for in children’s laughter.
Work is my identity.
Under my roof there are eyes that speak where words fail,
Unconditional years of love on both sides of the rainbow bridge.
Maggie makes new paw prints in the snow.
I am from a community of dog lovers,
A safe space where we are seen,
Surrounded by people who share my language.
Within these gates it is easy to be me.
My mind tells a story through the eyes of a camera lens.
I am from creativity and femininity,
Dressing up with no place to go.
I am from summers of “Who wants to go to Seaside Park?”
Family memories of what was
Bring comfort like the warm sun dancing on your shoulders
And the sound of the waves.
I can rest now.