Roots

I am rooted here
Like a California palm and a giant redwood tree
Or the jacarandas planted from somewhere else
And like their purple leaves
This is not where my roots began

I am rooted there
In a cold Michigan winter which left the trees bare
A spring whose start was so late
The northern red oaks looked like veins reaching for the sky
Begging for the days before the colors came and the wind blew them away

I am rooted there
A slight breeze blowing through the summer maple leaves
While tiny capillaries form in my mother’s womb
My roots began as veins extending from her
And continue to grow wherever I am