Love and Growth: An Appalachian Story

    You ask me what's important to me, what makes me happy,                                                                 My friends, art and my family.                                                                                                          There's one thing though that nobody would have known.                                                              Home.                                                                                                                                                 Where I come from. Growing up I hated my home, as most people do.                                       Memories there haunted me, I felt trapped and alone,                                                                              I did not feel like that was my home.                                                                                                        I moved away to a city all concrete and all flat. No mountains. No privacy.                                         I still felt trapped and I still felt alone.                                                                                                   This place was still yet not my home.                                                                                                 I went back to my hometown,                                                                                                             went through the mountains, drove around.                                                                                         The memories chased me but I am grown now.                                                                                        I can see them all clearly, sort them all out.                                                                                               I don't cry when I think of the way my mother laughed, or smell apple dumplings and chicken.                                                                                                                                                      I don't feel sad when I think of the queens of Pine Mountain, who had to grow up too fast.                   All the times that rushed by when I wanted them to last.                                                                           I can look back and smile and feel more secure,                                                                                   I'm not trapped anymore don't you see.                                                                                                   It wasn't the home that had trapped  me inside,                                                                                     the trapper, she was me.                                                                                                                           I am free, I am grown and this place is my home and I feel it whenever I'm here.                                                                                                     

Comments

Additional Resources

Get AI Feedback on your poem

Interested in feedback on your poem? Try our AI Feedback tool.
 

 

If You Need Support

If you ever need help or support, we trust CrisisTextline.org for people dealing with depression. Text HOME to 741741