writing prompt
I Will Never Go Home
This is in response to a prompt by Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她)
Looking through the thirty-five Millimeter slides of my father’s Which turned up some thirty years After he died
Feeling the fears and doubts All over again today It seems unlikely that this is where I began, where I am from
The bittersweet memories calling The unresolved connections Make me realize that I Can never go back, would never go back
It’s hard enough to keep moving forward Hard to eschew my roots They’re what made me after all And I am not displeased
Don’t cry for me Kansas City You gave me the best you could It’s not you but me Forever you’ll be home base
But I can never return I gave up a place that I love But also one that knew me at my worst I’d just as soon bury that former self
It’s not who I am now.
©️ 2021, Rusty Alderson
