The Meaning of Home

Last June, after having only lived in the San Juans for a couple months, Alex took one of her many trips to NYC. Returning to her island home filled her with insight and contentment.

The Meaning of Home

Words do little
to describe
how glad I am
to be back
from Manhattan.

A volcano,
a boat,
and an archipelago are
to my senses,
a vast improvement
on a skyscraper,
a subway,
and a few
siren and soot-filled boroughs
called
New York City.

But that is just me,
now.
When I was growing up,
I was
A quintessential
New Yorker,
who couldn’t have imagined
living anywhere
else.

I mean,
what else could there
possibly be
to do
and see
and experience
that wasn’t in
the greatest city
in the world?
Why leave?

And then at 21,
I left,
and my world
expanded.

I still love
New York,
the way
one still loves
difficult relatives;
but my heart
lives here.

Alex Shapiro June 2007