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Home Coming by Alarie Tennille

Home Coming

To go back to your hometown
and find it doesn’t recognize you.

To see your old house bedraggled
like hand-me-downs left to Goodwill –

gutters stripped, azaleas gone for no good
reason except it’s not your home.

To dread awkward reunions almost as much
as not running into anyone you know.

To get a little lost, finding landmarks
have run away with your childhood.

To startle at the silver-haired man
walking by who’s too much like your dad.

To feel gutted by the gap that was
your high school, but jealous

of a new museum and elegant restaurants
where you’ll never have a favorite table.

To understand this strange place
doesn’t feel like home, but always will be.

by Alarie Tennille, first published in Poetry Breakfast.

Editor’s note: Careful enjambments and clear imagery highlight the bittersweet touch of nostalgia in this poem.

Comments

2 responses to “Home Coming by Alarie Tennille”

  1. Sylvia Vaughn Avatar
    Sylvia Vaughn

    This poem captures exactly how I feel when I visit any of the towns I lived in while Father served in the Navy. Beautiful.

  2. parhelionrose Avatar
    parhelionrose

    Home Coming is the first poem in Alarie Tennille’s new collection, WAKING ON THE MOON, sold on Amazon.

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