Triangulating
among two cities
and a desert: where I have lived,
where I want to live.
The city by the sea;
the city in the central hills;
the desert far away
which I cannot deny still pulls.
I stay where I am,
trisected. Here is where
I make my stand: not
whole but contained,
feeling the parts straining
under the tug of all my possible
homes. I won’t ever really belong
anywhere, I think.
They tell you it’s good
to put down roots, but
some roots work best ungrounded,
constantly sensing what’s on
the wind. That’s me, I guess:
the air plant. The one that grows
even with a tenuous hold on place.
The one that got away.
