She hesitated,
unsure
that I was me.
Her smile
dissolved,
ghostlike.
But then
she waved,
and my family
flooded me.
Homecomings Are Strange
You come home,
and everyone talks
at once
and everyone asks
questions,
but no one waits for the answers.
Instead they talk about themselves,
what they’ve been
up to,
what they’re going
to do next,
as if you’re a photo on the wall.
And then they talk to one another,
forgetting you’ve just
flown in,
forgetting you’re in
the backseat,
forgetting they’ve already said it all.
And you want to shout,