wildscape. literary journal

Where I’m From
by Lamon Wiggins*

I’m from Good Samaritan Hospital.
I’m from Cincinnati, Ohio,
Or that’s what I tell people.
I’m from Atlanta, Georgia
Where I have been half my life.
I’m from Virginia,
But I don’t remember what city.

I am from playing outside before
the street lights come on.
I am from riding my bike down the street,
but not going past a certain point.
I am from watching the same DVDs over and over
until I know the entire movie by heart.
I am from having to find different ways to
wipe off video games and CDs so that they can work.

I’m from playing with my pencils in class.
I’m from 50-cent Honeybuns.
I’m from going to Gamestop to buy new games.
I’m from PS2 and PS3s.
I’m from America, where I’m glad to be.

*Note from the editor: Lamon Wiggins is the reason this issue exists. In May 2024, on graduation day, some of the graduated seniors and their loved ones came back to our school’s campus to utilize the grounds to celebrate together – including Lamon. Later in the evening, while they were celebrating, a car drove onto campus and the occupants of the car began shooting. One of our graduates, Lamon Wiggins, was shot and killed while trying to push a friend out of the way of gunfire. He had just graduated hours prior, and he was excited for his future.

A week after Lamon’s passing, as I was walking through the hallways of our school, I noticed that our 12th grade English teachers had hung up “Where I’m From” poems in the hallway that their students had written right before graduation. As I was scanning them, Lamon’s poem caught my eye. While short and sweet, it talks about the little details of his childhood and upbringing that he remembers fondly. And in that moment, my heart broke a second time. For Lamon and his family. For his mother, who lost her only child. For the gentle moments that made Lamon who he was, only for violence to take him in the end. For injustice and the systemic violence that too often ends in a mother holding her child’s lifeless body.

I wanted Lamon’s poem to be seen. I wanted his story to be heard. So now, with Lamon’s mother’s blessing, his poem is the start of this issue. From a calm, gentle, nostalgic beginning/poem, to a violent, unfair death, Lamon’s story encompasses the two ends of the spectrum that I hope to create with the theme of “calm // storm”. 

about the author // Lamon Wiggins