Don’t belong
to people or places,
stereotypes or stale regrets,
expectations, fears, nor false selves.
Belong
to the poems
inhabiting your heart
and the song lines
running laps in your mind.
Belong
to the moments
that bloom into memories
like fleeting gifts
unwrapped across time.
Belong
to the smell of roasted nuts,
the wink of Christmas through fogged windows,
the crackled cries of satisfied wood,
& the warmth of yearning spring suns.
Belong
to yourself.
and all the selves
you left behind.
Search for them
one by one
like you do with
poems & song lines
moments & memories
smells & sounds.
Gather together
in joy & burden.
Loiter in the lobby
of this sacred space
& toast to the
traumas and longings
yet to be found.
Make
community
together
with
Y O U
and
simply
belong.
•••Belong•••
Carly Caprio
Background: In the middle of a cross-country move, I find my heart torn between two places that feel like home. This poem attempts to answer the dull nagging question: where do I belong?