WHERE THE HEART IS
Home means different things to different people, but I think most parents associate home with their children, and most children, however old, associate home with their parents. The following is my attempt to capture what "home" means to me.
If it has a heart
it is not in the kitchen
where you chop
garlic
and I stir the sauce
it is not on the couch
in front of the fireplace
where the cats curl
and stretch
or even in our bed
where we have loved
three children into
existence --
It is found in the oak
planks of the hallway
that connects our room
to theirs,
its pulse is the groan
and creak
left from nights
spent pacing,
small hot bodies
moved from my arms
to yours
then back again
and in the mornings
you can hear it
racing in sock feet,
fast-flight toward day
then later at dusk
in the steady fall of your shoes
just before you drop
your keys into the bowl.
- Irene Latham
If it has a heart
it is not in the kitchen
where you chop
garlic
and I stir the sauce
it is not on the couch
in front of the fireplace
where the cats curl
and stretch
or even in our bed
where we have loved
three children into
existence --
It is found in the oak
planks of the hallway
that connects our room
to theirs,
its pulse is the groan
and creak
left from nights
spent pacing,
small hot bodies
moved from my arms
to yours
then back again
and in the mornings
you can hear it
racing in sock feet,
fast-flight toward day
then later at dusk
in the steady fall of your shoes
just before you drop
your keys into the bowl.
- Irene Latham
posted by Irene Latham at 9:30 AM
3 Comments:
That one is my favorite.
Awww... just a wee bit sentimental, dontcha think? :) Anyway, I was thinking... the thing we put before we show the poem -- isn't that a lot like what we say (or should say) before we read a poem at a reading? It's really helping me understand my own work better. So cool!
True, and the trick for me is not saying too much and letting the poem speak for itself.
Post a Comment
<< Home