At Home

This time around, I'm posting something a bit different. I had just finished reading Empire of Borders by Todd Miller, and felt a fire in my belly. So I decided to use that energy to sit down and write for the first time in a while. And thus came about this poem. It's a reflection on the complexities of the word "home" and the implications of a simple four-letter word. I have been extremely grateful for the home I have during the "stay at home" order. Not only my home here, but the places I call home here, there and anywhere. Enjoy :)

Here, There, and Anywhere by Katelyn Rediger

Home… what is home? Where is home? 

Is it in this four-walled shelter that I’ve been stuck inside for the past month or so?

Is it my parents’ home where the majority of my belongings are still being stored?

Is it the university where I made life-long friends and memories? 

Or maybe it’s the place where my umbilical cord was buried. 

Home sweet home…. 

Where do I feel that I belong? The place where I know that I am loved and safe

the place where I feel that I would have the strength and support that I would need
to overcome whichever obstacle that might come my way. 

Or more practically,

a place where I can rest my head for the night and wait for the storm to pass.

Does home have to be one place or can it be many? Can I leave pieces of my heart 

in the homes I make along the way, because it sure feels that way. 

Why have I been given so many homes and some people are robbed

of the only home they had? 

Why am I openly welcomed to create new homes 

wherever my wandering heart desires 

while others are denied the mere idea of establishing a home 

not just for themselves but for their little ones? 

I have memories- a home here, a home there. 

A home where I dreamed one would be and a home where I never thought one could be.

I’ve grown to need home, to love home, and to expect home

Here, there, and anywhere. 

Some homes are built from the ground up. Some homes are burnt down. 

Some homes are fixed up. Some homes are torn down. 

Homes are unaffordable, homes are unsupportable. 

Homes are a benefit. Homes are a prerequisite. 

No address, no employment, no employment, no address. 

Homes are a necessity...then why do only some get to be 

Lucky enough to call some place home.

Not just for a minute, not just while we wait our turn, not just because it’s all we got 

But because it’s the home we’ve imagined. A good school around the corner

Safe streets and a park near enough to walk

here, there, and anywhere