Arts featured

It’s good to be transitionally home, a poem by Grace Lane-Smith

It’s good to be transitionally home

What is this
Aech Oh Em Ee
Full stop

Ever changing day by day, an ellipsis from one town to a city to the mouth leading down a country road

Change me.

Like a flurry of strong weeds
Sprouting fast
Digging deep
Clenching its talons everywhere
It clings! Clings! Clings!
Soaking up liquid through each and every pore
Ellipsis
(Breathe).

Eff Eh Em Aye Elle Why  
Ellipsis
Why.

Eff Eh Em Aye Elle Why  
Aech Oh Em Ee
(suck breath in)
Hold. 
Release.
Ellipsis

People don’t always come from the same blood, nor the same place
Like churches sharing space
Like tomatoes and potatoes
We are – 
(breathe in)
We are?
Awkward/not awkward/beautifully blessed
(Release)
Ellipsis

Looking less
Transitioning always
Big fat juicy heavy-duty Impact
Returning to find
Things have moved on and no things look the same
Uh oh, maybe I’ve changed.
Can I help?
“Your mind will be broadened”
But this is my home
Now I’m a visitor
Now I can’t imagine
Can’t imagine how it would be like if I hadn’t left. 

Aech Oh Em Ee
Oh You See Aech
Oh, you see Aech?
Ohyouseeaech!!

But oh so good to be
To be.
To be transitionally home.

Ohyouseeech
No longer part of the fabric
A pair of red glasses peering into the fishbowl
Nose pressed and warming up the glass
(Breathe)
Ellipsis

Eff Eh Em Aye Elle Why
Why grow?
Potato envy.
Deep, dark snuggled in safety.
But

(Ellipsis)

So much beauty out there.
The sunshine lulling me to sleep in its sparkle
Softly soothing the surface of my skin.

Again.

So much beauty out there.
The sunshine lulling me to sleep in its sparkle
Softly soothing the surface of my skin.

Beauty is extravagant
Beauty is risk
How can I not Follow
How can I resist expanding my mind?
Ellipsis

Oh You See Aech
A place of belonging, constant goodbyes, hello(s)!
Breathe.

It’s good to be transitionally Aech Oh Em Ee 
with Eff Eh Em Aye Elle Why. 
Home. Family. Transitionally. 
On the phone, on the bus, on the train, online.
Kilometres apart
In person.
Finally.

(Exhale) 

Full stop. 

Wave study, by Grace Lane-Smith

Grace Lane-Smith is a Nova Scotia poet and visual artist. Her work can be seen at www.gracelanesmithart.com. This is the third of the poems we selected after our call for poems and illustrators earlier this year. 

With a special thanks to our generous donors who make publication of the Nova Scotia Advocate possible.

Subscribe to the Nova Scotia Advocate weekly digest and never miss an article again. It’s free!

Advertisement