Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest

Hometown
by Jessy Weiss

Nineteenth Contest
third Place

It is standing in the bathroom of the 
Library and looking 
Out the little window 
Into the backstreets 
Of your small town and 
Dreaming big dreams
That will take you
Past the grocery store and
Local laundromat
But will bring you back again.

It is sitting on 
The park swings 
Holding everything 
That is a part of you
In your lap 
And realizing 
You can go as high 
As you have the guts
To dare to go.

It is a place 
Where grief
Sits between 
Your shoulder blades
And rocks you 
To sleep
At night,
Yet also gives birth
To a dream so big
It takes both your arms
To hold it.

It is lying 
In knee-high grass 
Beneath the shade of 
Plum trees 
All afternoon
And watching the wide
Blue sky
While the immediate pressures
Of young life
Hold.

It is sitting 
Barefoot and loose
On the metal tailgate
Of a truck
As you hold the cool 
Night air
To your skin 
Temporarily putting away 
Whatever wars you own
For watching fireworks 
On a perfect night
In July.

It is somewhere 
that gives you something 
To call your own
Which after a time 
Begins
To call you its own
And as the years 
Go by
Finally satisfies 
A desperate longing
To know and be known.

It is lying atop
A big mare
Your hands 
Tangled high into her mane 
As you trace 
The muscles in her neck
With your small fingers
Feeling her power
Ignite your own 
Zest.

Hometown…
It is like shoes that 
Fit just right
Comfortably stylish 
With a sense of solidity
Classy, yet not too “blingy.”

It is a place
That gives clarity and support 
To your being
Yet steps aside 
When you must move on
And waits 
Until you need 
To come back.