Homecoming: Return To Racine Avenue

The shock of coming home to a former shell of one's childhood home is jarring and emotional. The confusing day-to-day of the people still here seems confusing. Are we not all in the same crumbling, dirty house? Does the visitor speak up or keep silent? Three years ago, it was coming apart slowly but things were still under control. In the present day, grime and mold are everywhere. The brown bungalow that was once the glory of the family is an expensive and shameful shamble soon to be sold in a year. What was supposed to be a loving, fun, summer homecoming becomes a tower experience of shock, arguments, and heartbreak. Yet between those lines of detachment and sorrow, there stands a few moments of joy. Between the walls of a vintage brown Chicago bungalow are a series of poems examining an explosive wakeup call to accept change and move on.