Poetry Day #28
There was a lot of information to digest today about Emily Dickinson, and the hundreds of poems she left behind on scraps of paper and the backs of envelopes – I will delve into this when I have more time, and am not technically “at work”. The prompt really boiled down to writing about a significant room or space from our lifetime that we still warmly recall in full detail.
Haiku
Memories abound
Through sight, smell and emotion
Not all are happy
Finally Home
By the time I was ten years old
I had lived at as many addresses
No place felt like home to me
I never really fit in
Packing was always hard
But I grew to find joy in unpacking
And rediscovering my treasures
As I found new places for each
None of my tears lasted too long
At least in my recollection
Every tiny piece of my life
Unknowingly turning me into who I am now
I have great memories of places
And of smells and of sights I took in
Not realizing at the time
How much each experience was shaping me
I started to find my footing in high school
A rotten, defiant and belligerent teen
The conundrum of wanting to belong
Yet needing to chart my own course
It continued through college
Where I would try to conform
To things like sorority life
Then abruptly turn and run
I found my niche
The lone female running with
A wild pack of men
Throwing darts, bowling and drinking
And getting one step closer
To being the woman that
Is at home in a dive bar
Or a five star resort
Searching and searching for a place
To call home
All the while knowing the edifice did not matter
It is what I put in the shell that makes the difference
It is my art that matters
And my pets that matter
And one very special person that now
Makes me feel at home