QUARANTINE LIFE: POETRY PROMPT---NOSTALGIA

NOSTALGIA 

I want to sit on my grandmother’s porch

And smell sugar cane in the air

Run circles around her neat, shotgun house

With a switch from a chinaball tree

And when I get hungry, just pick a few figs

In the yard, sour cherries to spare

Go inside, nestle safely in her loving arms

Knowing somebody on Earth loved me

I want to wake to the smell of her grits, eggs, and bacon

And biscuits with Steen’s

Help her hang on the line gleaming white sheets

She washed in an old wringer washing machine

I want to walk down a gravel-paved road

Feel the crunch of white shells at my feet

Pass humble houses where everyone had pecan candy

And gumbo to eat

I want to listen; mimic the train’s whistle

Be ready to run when it passed

Not sure why, today, I long for dear Addis

How long will this nostalgia last?

You never forget when you’re loved

You never forget those who cared

You never forget all the spaces and places

Where peace seemed to be everywhere 

I want to navigate grass filled with busy ants

Swing all day in a makeshift swing

Learn to appreciate "soon in the morning"

Listen to chickadees sing

Ice boxes, chifferobes, chapel caps, 

Ribbons of yarn, music in everything

Water so soft, fields as far as your eye could see

There's simply no denying

You never forget when you’re loved

You never forget those who cared

You never forget all the spaces and places

Where love seemed to be everywhere 

I guess I’ll sit in this moment of memories

Grateful that looking back won’t cause pain

Thankful for all I was taught; what I learned

Even how I now cherish the rain

That old porch is gone, but it lives in my mind

There’s so much I can clearly replay

Funny how wonderfully an old photograph

Can bring warmth to a chilly, Fall day

vrwc2022