Where I Call Home

Prompt 9-15-14

Theme: I'm coming for a visit. Take me for a walk through your town. Make it come alive! Small village or major city, doesn't matter aslong as you let me see the unique character of your neck of the woods!

Words to use: lamp post, cobbled, sidewalk, spell
Words NOT to use: (my old nemesis) street, store, siren, bridge


At least 25 lines. Rhyming or not!


Where I Call Home

In a world where one city blends into another,
where one can barely tell exactly where they are,
come visit for a moment in my village.
Come, sit for a spell in the gazebo.
Shaded by two hundred year old oaks,
our town square once served as common ground for sheep.
Now, on Thursdays evenings we gather,
herding the children in to watch movies
on a sheet strung between two of those trees.

An aura of belonging permeates
from cobbled stone byways to our one,
count it, one, stoplight. Say 'Cheers'
for this is a place where everybody does know
your name. (And your family going back
several generations!)
Kids don't get in trouble here because
everyone knows who they are and where they live!

Tree boughs meet overhead as we travel down
dusty roads, outside of town to visit
one hell of a nice place. Seriously,
welcome to Hell, Michigan. It isn't cold, you see,
until the dam here freezes over--
(think about it!)
Let's stop at In a Hand Basket,
and you can mail a postcard home.
The edges of it will be singed--you are in Hell, after all.

Horses still trot by-- see?
There's Kat's Frisian tied to the lamp post
outside the bank. We should go in--
you can still see the bullet holes
from when the bank was robbed
in 1873. Then we can pretend
we are kids. You can still get a paper sack full
of penny candy 'cross the way.
We can walk the trail back home,
past the old train depot.

No, not much to offer in the way of fast food
or movie theaters, although,
Shakespeare in the Park
is next weekend! Twenty minutes or so
to highways, malls, traffic and congestion.
Suggestion?
Stay for the block party tonight!
The guys drag their grills out between houses,
we set up tables running down the length of our block

My hubby cooks steaks better than any restaurant,
Tim brings corn from the farm,
Laura will bring tomatoes and lettuce,
and we shall have a feast!
Horseshoes later, singing 'round the fire,
kids romping, running, chasing fireflies
til they drop, exhausted and are carried off to bed.
We won't be up too late though--
sidewalks roll up at nine:
we get up afore the sun round here.

Staying the night? Make yourself at home:
what's ours is yours. Feel free to rummage the fridge,
coffee'll be on by five, and here, take an extra blanket
just for cozy. We'll see you in the morning,
breakfast's at six. Nah, haven't locked a door here
long back as I remember.
Sleep well.
Pleasant dreams.
So glad you came!