arch
glinting in sunlight
welcome

pot hole covered road
welcoming me
home

familiar streets
all my routes
branch off of one

engine starting
heading home
boomerang

top quarter champion

TOP half Chamption

bottom quarter champion

through the door
my mom smiles
new paint.

same bed
same house
not my home

room full of books
I still haven’t read
I missed you all

open photo albums
sprawled across the room
spider web

TOP half champion

CHAMPIONChamption

BOTTOM half champion

hometown diner
the hashbrowns
not as good as I remember

crowded restaurant
I feel lucky to
have my family

the hill i roll down
seems smaller than i remember
grass stains the same

I return home
the trees aren’t as green
as I remember

top quarter champion

BOTTOM half Chamption

bottom quarter champion

flowers bloomed
even when I
wasn't here

family weekend
I go for a walk
alone.

a kiss on the nose
home is wherever
she is

wrapped in warmth
for a second
Grandma’s hug

clomp of hooves
a little girl smiles
as we parade by

bang of drums
awake me
damned parade outside

a jumbled parade
I call out instructions
to my brothers

band of brothers
to those who come back
it is their only home

top quarter champion

TOP half Chamption

bottom quarter champion

halftime show
watching from the sideline
still could play that cadence

high school gym
sweaty dancers
stop twerking

August heat
the smell of football pads
and last goodbyes

my last soccer game
my father hugs me
as I cry

TOP half champion

CHAMPIONChamption

BOTTOM half champion

I could have been
your homecoming queen
if only this      or that

little sister
you’re still a queen
in my heart

thinking of you
I remember
chemistry

passing a familiar face
did you sit behind me
in chemistry?

top quarter champion

BOTTOM half Chamption

bottom quarter champion

music pulses in the air
I stand in the corner
watching him with somebody else

a brief stare
from an ex-girlfriend
years too late

hidden in the oak
his knife etches
a beautiful goodbye

an old name
less visible
on the tree