crowded, hot gym
my date twirls me,
the Dancing Queen!

14 years old
giggling, doing each other's hair
we wait for our awkward dates

stung with jealousy
my friend
accepts her crown

homecoming court
king . . . right choice
queen . . . wrong choice

top quarter champion

top half champion

bottom quarter champion

fall afternoon
with a bowl of soup—
warmth of home

first weekend of college
spent at home
drinking coffee with mom

looking down
a fallen tree
I planted when I was a child

swing in the park
where I sat—
my son sits

top half champion

champion

bottom half champion

cornfields and dust
four-wheeler passing
as I go home

traveling to see grandma—
we are getting too big
for the backseat

tossing and turning
the train whistles
he covers his ears

look through the tiny window
London small beneath me
"never the same"

top quarter champion

bottom half champion

bottom quarter champion

touchdown!
red and white
pom-poms fly

Falcon homecoming
like none other
Kicking it wit my brothers

baseball and a best friend
a birthday celebration
in My Kind of Town

the familiar has
changed to unfamiliar
How long have I been gone?