Homesick by Barbara Eknoian

Homesick
by
Barbara Eknoian

I cross the miles holding

on to memories:

my children’s first steps,

their first days at school,

romping in piles

of orange and gold leaves.

The neighborhood movie house,

where Rocky played

for six months.

It was something I could rely on

when I looked up at the marquee.

The drugstore where my kids

brought their piggy banks;

the clerk counting out

pennies to buy me perfume.

Chatting over the backyard fence,

as we hung clothes on our lines.

Margaret always washed

on Mondays, shopped on Thursdays;

Vivian walked to the market at noon.

I arrive in the new land

of smog-filled haze

and star-like cacti,

I am on another planet.

I long to see the familiar landscape

of windswept leaves

resting against

the sagging redwood fence.

Barbara Eknoian writes poetry, novels, and short stories. Her work has appeared in numerous venues and her latest book is More Jerkumstances, New & Selected Poems. Barbara lives in La Mirada, California with her daughter, grandson, and two cats;
she says the younger one keeps the family on their toes because she's full of mischief!

Juanita:
Barbara: this is lovely. I have Ray sitting beside me and he is also homesick. Juanita
Posted 10/25/2012 05:03 PM

peninsulapoet:
No one conjures memories of home like Barbara.
Posted 10/18/2012 09:35 AM

erinsnana:
Loved this poem...which conojures my own memories of home.
Posted 10/18/2012 07:38 AM

phebe.davidson@gmail.com:
Glad to find another Jersey soul at work in poems. This is evocative, and takes me right back to that home state years ago.
Posted 10/18/2012 07:19 AM

Eiken:
Barbara, I really identified with this poem, I have lived abroad for years and I got home just a few years back, set up home in Ireland again and then my husband's work took us away to Europe all over again. I am holding on to the sagging fence here and hope we will retire here in the future. Maire in Ireland!!
Posted 10/18/2012 04:45 AM

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