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Column 092

Home Fire

Intro by Ted Kooser
01.03.2007

Home is where the heart… Well, sure­ly we all know that old say­ing. But it’s the par­tic­u­lars of a home that make it ours. Here the poet Lin­da Par­sons Mar­i­on, who lives in Knoxville, Ten­nessee, cel­e­brates famil­iar­i­ty, in its detail and its richness. 

Home Fire

Whether on the boulevard or gravel backroad,
I do not easily raise my hand to those who toss
up theirs in anonymous hello, merely to say
“I’m passing this way.” Once out of shyness, now
reluctance to tip my hand, I admire the shrubbery
instead. I’ve learned where the lines are drawn
and keep the privet well trimmed. I left one house
with toys on the floor for another with quiet rugs
and a bed where the moon comes in. I’ve thrown
myself at men in black turtlenecks only to find
that home is best after all. Home where I sit
in the glider, knowing it needs oil, like my own
rusty joints. Where I coax blackberry to dogwood
and winter to harvest, where my table is clothed
in light. Home where I walk out on the thin page
of night, without waving or giving myself away,
and return with my words burning like fire in the grate.

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Disclaimer

We do not accept unsolicited submissions

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Reprinted from Home Fires: Poems, Sow’s Ear Press, 1997, by permission of the author. Copyright © 1997 by Linda Parsons. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.