All poems are the work of the author, Jasmine L. Cummings, raised in Chicago, IL. She studied at DePaul University in Chicago, and spent the past 26 years working for the Chicago Public Schools as a teacher. These poems were written during my lifetime as a teacher and mother of two. They are passionate - they recall tenderness and pain. They have a rare sanity which reaches the mind as well as the heart. One of the poems I Take Out My Pen to Write shows that although Ive gone through lifes changes, " YET I Take Out My Pen to Write about it. The title of this book is Who Am I, as is the first poem, as it symbolizes the moments of my life that make me who I AM .