A Hometown Beat – An American Children’s Poem

Ever since we returned to the United States, I’ve been thinking about my sense of home.  It’s been wonderful to read about the things that inspire everyone at home in the comments of the penguin ornament I’m giving away on Monday (and wow!  Well over 100 comments!).  Many of you are motivated by the views out your windows, your children, each other, and the special features that make your homes your own.  It’s been wonderful to hear about these things because they’re the small beauties in life that we don’t necessarily think about until we don’t have them or someone like me forces it out.  ;)

I know that my best writing comes when I’m sitting by the window.  I don’t know why that is.  Martin will watch me temporarily settle in half a dozen places with my laptop no matter where we are.  And in the end, I always leave my desk and choose to work exactly where he knew I would go – by the window.  There’s something about the view that inspires me.  And when we moved to Germany, I worried that the rush of Berlin wouldn’t have the same relaxing effect as the quiet images I was used to in the United States where everything out my window was spread out and sunny.

I wrote this poem (inspired by Langston Hughes) the last time I was in my hometown.  It’s a smaller community where you always run into someone you know, and the grocery store aisles are jammed with old acquaintances who stop to visit.  You know the kind of place?

 

A HOMETOWN BEAT

When you are out on the town
and strolling down the street,
can you feel a hometown rhythm
bouncing in your feet?
And do you roam the roads
and hear a drum beat in your heart?
Or feel the music flowing 
when the trumpets start?
If you hear the tambourine
or see folks boogie down,
I think that you are lucky
to live in such an upbeat town.

 

(Image by my talented friend Vica.  Poem by Katie for Making This Home.  As much as I love to share, all content is copyright protected.  Please do not copy or publish without asking.)