Home is

Home is….

Well I’m not quite sure

 

But is it where      

                     or what is it?

Is it where you can shed your skin

And walk with tendons and organs exposed

Like some reawakened corpse?

 

Is it where you slip into

Loving memories like a warm robe

And take them with you?

 

Or is it simply and ideal

That we are trained to strive for?

What can four walls hold that hands can’t?

 

With the sounds of my home around me:

    The bathtub draining

    The conversations of computer keys

    The constant  drone of fans

    The sounds of cars humming on the street below

 

Perhaps there is nothing more than

Having a place that is saturated with you for a time,

And knowing that for a time 

                                       it is yours.

Reviews

[Clockwork]

I've been trying to figure this out since I started college four years ago. So I am pretty fond of how you progress through the question of what home is. I like the idea of the reworked corpse early in the poem. It hints at the idea of freedom and breaks the cliche way of "comfortable in your own skin." It suggests that you can be comfortable with what your made of.

My one suggestion regards the final lines of the poem. I'm not sure that I like the repetition of time to end the second and third lines. I think you could take off the first "for a time" in line two and have it read "Having a place that is saturates with you/and knowing that for a time/it is yours." Even still, that section is my favorite bit of the poem, and I enjoyed your work very much.

[Fabiana]

Thank you! I moved a lot as a kid so I periodically go through these "but wait home was (blank) states ago" but it's interesting to think about what makes you call a place by such a emotional word.

I see what you mean about the double "time. " I will have to roll that around in my head and see what words stick. i hesitate to remove it, but it can be worked!

[Clockwork]

You're welcome! I see how that could make you feel that way.

I'd say for me its freedom and wherever nature is really.

[Noehm Strawhair]

It is truly amazing how you broke the pattern of "Well I'm not quite sure, but it is where... or what is it?" that suddenly catches your attention even more. The different perspectives of what it is a home you impose can truly get you thinking what you think a home is. It even got me thinking if a home is truly a place or can even be a person. I think how you connect a person and his/or her home: "saturated with you" is really accurate. A place that is not "saturated with you" cannot really be a home is a crude but true idea. It just makes me imagine of all those people who spend all day in work and aren't really "home" but a few hours... but is it really enough to think it is "yours" for it to be a "home"? and if you are not there but a few hours can you really think it is yours?
Fabiana (like your name btw) I think one word cannot describe your work entirely but if I had to choose: splendid