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I Am

Tricia McCallum

I am from my mother’s bed in a Glasgow tenement, 

walls thick with coal dust.

I am from Saturday confession, identical school uniforms, unflinching patriarchy.

I am from melancholy to the marrow of my bones.

I am from not up to it but showing up anyway. 

I am from faking it so very well no one ever knows. 

I am from a lifetime of hard-won lessons of when to shut up and 

when to kick doors down.

I am from finessing the difference. 

I am from reading the room the way all women must.

I am from puffers and steroids and Prozac and poetry. 

I am from squamous cells and ovarian tumors. 

I am from kicked to the curb and too tired to care.

I am from returning home scared to death.

I am from swallowing bile.

I am from too many calm downs and too few stand ups. 

I am from too smart for my own good.

I am from you'll never get a man that way. 

I am from childlessness.

I am from bartending and short order cooking and cold calling and 

traveling the world alone.

I am from 36,000 feet up serving cocktails in turbulence and 

stiletto heels and tight skirts and never spilling a drop.

I am from 30 feet down in dank basement apartments, 

I am from a Glasgow tenement.

I am from survivors.

I am from optimists.

I am from losing what mattered most.

I am from unbridled love.

I am from a place called I'm still here.

AUTHOR BIO

Tricia McCallum publishes her poems and stories both online and off, wherever she can find them good homes. She has two poetry collections in print and her poems won goodreads.com monthly poetry competition a total of three times, as chosen by its readers. Writing helps her navigate her life and her way in the world.

JUDGE'S REMARKS

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​Poetry Judge

Allison Field Bell

Allison Field Bell is a multi-genre writer originally from northern California, but currently living in Utah.

MORE ABOUT ALLISON

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