True North Is My Hope—Is My Home

I.

I left Rochester on my way to Cincinnati the day before Easter in a snowstorm.  What a harsh and unrelenting season we have had!  As I pulled out of my driveway, to begin my journey, a symbol of hope showed her face.

Within the remnants

of winter’s last crusty snow

caked with mud and ice,

winter’s fin,al fallen flakes mix

with snowdrops first bloom.

II.

My April travels—ten hours southbound always welcomes me with daffodils and trees just beginning to bud.  This visit has not disappointed in that regard.  And with the trip home, these Cincinnati sites are soon to follow. 

A burst of spring marks my path south, in my travels from-to.

Splashes of buttery daffodils dancing, willow’s yellow-green branches sway.

Please, I plead—follow me back to north to the home where I now live.

III

My visit has been one of anticipated visits with loved ones and friends.  Yet, the trip has been a time of noticed contrasts.  My deepest roots are here.  And as I visit, I notice they have lived without me.  There is no sadness marked here.  Just observation.  We have grown.  Apart.  And somehow our bonds are still together.  This place holds my longest memories.  And beyond the memories, life has continued.  Somehow, this makes me feel older.

At my home of birth—

A place of dichotomy

in my winter years.

IV

Today I travelled home.  Leaving my mom, aging, slowing and oh-so-loved.  Saying goodbye to my sisters and brother.  Hugging my oldest friends.  This is a place I love.  I am travelling true north to a place that has called me home.  To a place I also love.

A sunrise greets me as I travel again—north-easterly to my now home.

The sky billows, laced with clouds, color far-reaching to the western sky.

Merging what was past with what is now—each part of my story of home.

I will always call you home, and now true-north calls me home.

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This month, as a way for me to celebrate National Poetry Month, I have been visiting The Miss Rumphius Effect to read about poetry forms.  Each day the blog is sharing various poetry forms, giving history and helpful tips to poets, young and old alike, who might want to try these forms out.  I have explored various forms today in my writing.  In part I you will find a tanka.  Part II experiments with sijo.  Part III attempts haiku and part IV returns to sijo with an extra line added just because.   To find out about these forms and other fun things happening during National Poetry Month, visit this site.

Thank you to Two Writing Teachers for dedicating space and time for teachers and teachers of literacy to come together to share ideas, practice and life experience.