Okay, we’ll leave the self examination for the moment and look into our origins. Everybody comes from somewhere, it’s true. But we’re focusing our microscope a bit more finitely. For this week’s prompt, we’re going home!
“HOW DO YOU VIEW your life? – POETIC BLOOMINGS MEMOIR PROJECT
Part3: Welcome Home – Marie and I ask you to write your poem using your childhood home as inspiration. Be descriptive and paint your imagery as colorfully as you can. What color was your house? How was the neighborhood? Did you have a favorite room; hiding places? Wall paper or paint? – What memory of your home is the strongest for you? We will deal with the people in your home in later prompts. Right now, just give us a glimpse of where you lived. Include all you need to make us feel at home.
MARIE ELENA’S ROOTS:
BELMONT AVENUE
She was a two-story, humble abode;
Up in years, but still
She wore white well.
I don’t recall the kitchen much
Before Dad’s home-made solid oak cabinets, and Mom’s
Fruit-dappled wallpaper with appealing colors
That showcased the oak.
I also can’t quite recall the walled staircase
Before Dad opened it up, and added an elegant
Curve.
Then there’s my bedroom, of which I have
No recollection, pre-
Flamboyantly pink flowered wallpaper
Of my five-year-old big-girl choosing, that
My parents tolerated, and my Grandpa
Patiently hung.
I’m quite certain her front porch
Had limited personality until
Our porch swing was hung
And summer nights meant staying up late,
Pajama-clad, swinging and singing
And chatting and waving
To neighbors that happened by.
While some things were lovingly changed,
Others were equally as lovingly allowed to just be.
There was the dining room wallpaper mural –
An elegant home
With winding creek and weeping willows,
Where I used to sit for hours,
Placing myself in such a charming and picturesque scene.
What I truly treasured about our home, though,
Was her setting -
Comfortably settled among the homes of
Loving aunts, uncles, and eleven cousins.
© – Marie Elena Good – 2012
WALT’S HOME BASE:
WHERE OUR HEARTS BELONGED
Home.
It is where the heart is.
We had left her years ago
but our hearts remained; an empty shell
where the essence of us resides.
They can cover her in vinyl,
but in the final determination
the combination of sunny yellow
and a mellow burnt umber trimming.
had her brimming with love.
A two-family dwelling with
full cellar. A fellow could find sanctuary
with nary a care; there was always family there.
A room paneled and trimmed
(all on the carpenter’s whim)
Bunks and captain’s beds,
where we were born and bred.
It remains in my heart and head,
where my memories come.
I’ll always her call home.
© – Walter J. Wojtanik – 2012
It amuses me that we both chose to personify our homes – females, both. 
~Marie Elena
Why not, home was a loving and nurturing place. Walt
