My Heritage

I was born of bloodstone, drawn
to rock; drawn to red.
My ear was bent toward birds
in a row up on a walnut limb.

I bolted early from reality,
tethered the imagined pony.
I polished spurs. Stirred apples,
made butter in a copper kettle.

I treasured Adam’s rib along
with others in my body.
I ran. I danced. I climbed mountains,
swam in the old stone quarry.

The current in my brain ran fast.
It leaped and sparked.
I’ve lived my life―reveling in smoky
red and golden autumn dreams.

A retired public television producer in Morgantown, WV, Mary Lucille DeBerry has had poems published in Appalachian Heritage; Appalachian Journal; Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine; and in the 2022 anthology: I Thought I Heard a Cardinal Sing. She has published three collections: Bertha Butcher’s Coat (2009) (Revised 2020); Alice Saw the Beauty (2014); and She Was the Girl (2020).