Written for:  Poetic Asides #408 – Write a second home poem.
Most people have a first home–even if it’s just the place where you lay your head or stash your heart. But many people also have a second home–a place that is like a home away from home. Write a poem about such a place today. 

For eight years we traveled coast
to coast, nerves like burnt
toast–airport, and dog
separation anxiety.

In heat or cold, we felt
at home staying with my sister,
nephew, and two cool cats
with distinctly different
personalities.

Slept in my niece’s old
bedroom, hints of Pepto-
Bismol pink, still framing
closet doors, and a charcoal
sketch of my father hanging
on the wall.

Sprawled on couches, we’d catch
up on happenings east and west,
always keeping abreast of which new
gadgets had won a home
on the kitchen counters
of my sister, the QVC queen.

Though eight years of traveling
coast to coast have ended,
I still find her home
conducive to relaxation
bathed in warmth.