Here
Here I was brought
At the young age of five
To endure my childhood
Never to return South
For long, long years
Here I was brought
For a better school
For colder weather
Here I was brought
I left my friends behind
They may not remember me
But I remember them
Here I was brought
I left our house
A big brick house
The color of sand
Dry under the sun
Here I was brought
To a little green house
At the end of a dirt road
Rented from an old man
Then, after only a few months
We moved again
Here I was brought
In a big yellow house
Same school
Same friends
Different place
Then after just a year
We moved again
Here I was brought
To a big brown house
Same size as the yellow house
But in a much poorer condition
Paint drops on the floor
Pencil on the wall
Markers on the siding
Old as it was
It was still a house
In that big brown house
I had a new school
A new bus
New friends
Then after three more years
Parents got divorced
Daddy moved out
Mommy stayed
In that big brown house
It was cold
Rented from a queer woman
But it was a house
Winter coats inside every day
Ants in the windowsill
Heater under the kitchen table
Fighting over the window seat, it was cold
Two more years Mommy stayed
Before we moved for the fifth time
Here I was brought
A big yellow house
With a two-year rent
After Daddy moved
That's where we went half of the time
We played in the grass
We stayed there for the two long years
Before we moved again
Meanwhile Mommy was in a new house too
Here I was brought
A small tan house
Three bedrooms
One for Mommy
One for me and my brother
And one for the other girls
Small kitchen
Where many meals were cooked
Got a lease to own
We'll be there for a while yet
While at Daddy's
Here I was brought
A run down white house
Same gravel road as the green house
When we left
The blue bathtub was sinking into the basement
The place was full of mice
Traps in the kitchen
Most died as they had in the brown house
Their heads were squished
One's brain spilled on the kitchen floor
In the brown house
There was a mouse
Whose head was caught only a little in the trap
Whose eye came out
It ran in circles
Until it was caught
After seeing that
After seeing a snake cut in half
Mouse brains don't really bother you
Finally, after a year and a half
We moved again
Here I was brought
Down a little back road
A dead end at that
Into a mustard yellow house
It was lovely
Lease to own
We'll be here a while
The house is big
Five bedrooms
Nice yard
Nice basement
Half finished
Half not
A half for play
And a half for paint
Where a girl paints
A night sky
A horse
Concentric lines
Beaded mane
Beaded tail
Dream catcher
Then paints a new picture
A picture of the past
Not complete
But soon
It's black as night
And will soon have people of glass
In this town, many live and breath, many die
In this town
Here I was brought
A town of old houses and new ones
A town with children
An old town
A new town
A town of a busy road
With a few restaurants
A pub
A Tae Kwon Do academy
An ice cream place on the corner
Across from it a small strip mall
And the other side of the strip mall
There rests a mysterious car shop
It has an old worn sign
Sometimes there are people there
And lots of cars
Sometimes not
No one really knows
If they're open or if they are not
Across from the car place and the ice cream shop
Is an empty lot
It's been like that for years
This is my town
The brown house had another town
Just a general store, really
And a tavern
But it felt like a town
Here I was brought
From deep down South
Near the Ozarks
Up North, here were the cold winter lies
I have known this town for a long time
With more than my eyes
Here I was brought
Here