Border state

Fried Cornbread and fried chicken
As natural to me as rush hour traffic
With frequent "y'all s"
slipped into conversation.
Give me sunset on the monuments
Or coal laden mountains in the heart of our nation.
Forests and shopping malls
Framing the view, broadening my horizons.
Home and safety can be found in city blocks
Or a world where doors are never locked.
A southerner to those who choose to define
The difference in culture by the mason-Dixon line.
Though I feel home when down south, my northern accent gets a laugh
 caught between two worlds
But then again I'm half and half
City, suburb, southerner
Check all of the above
Labels over generalize
like a one size fits all glove
So I will try to summarize
The essence of my life
Country, and city meeting: Suburbanized.
I grew up with some of everything
But people grow to more than the sum of everything
--Colleen Craynon 2/13/12