by Pam Yve Simon
All The Places I’ve Called Home
The house with the linden tree, wraparound porch, swing set in the back, My Little Pony left on my pillow new in the box when we returned from vacation. Then Texas. Heat turned us to sludge. Fire ants and hornets. I rode my bike into the back of a parked pickup truck. Met a girl down the street from where mesquite trees lined the backyard and rats ran through the walls. She had a trampoline, a swimming pool, a step dad who watched me change into my bathing suit. We bickered, my siblings and I. Rollerbladed in the driveway before moving to where the river flowed through the backyard like stray cats through the cul de sac. One dog barked himself to death, another ate a baited fishing line. My father thought he spotted a UFO across the water. In spring the river rose up and washed it all away but we were already gone. North to the house that backed up to a movie theater, where it snowed in December and I couldn’t make any friends. Every room lined with ugly carpet there was no space for the rug my mom would later spread out in the basement of the first house where I finally had my own bedroom. Do you remember that basement? Fluorescent lights and radiator pipes. I pulled you down onto that rug, warm skin, hot breath. Our foolishness. Since then it’s been you. Four walls. Shingled roof. Cardboard boxes. Again and again my chin in the crook of your elbow. The one home I’ve never left.
Claire Taylor is a writer in Baltimore, Maryland. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications and her micro-chapbook, A History of Rats, is forthcoming as part of the Ghost City Press Summer Series. In addition to writing for adults, Claire is the creator of Little Thoughts, a monthly print and digital newsletter of stories and poetry for kids. You can find Claire online at clairemtaylor.com and Twitter @ClaireM_Taylor.
Pam Yve Simon believes in love and art; she believes both have the ability and obligation to reveal the awesome complexity of the human condition. She earned her bachelor of arts in English and American literature from New York University. Say hi to her on Twitter @PamYve.