Sunday 27 May 2018

Hometowns and homes




It’s ages since I’ve been to that teashop
and I haven’t gone back down that straight lane
where cobblers used to sit by the bus stop
though I’ve thought often I must go back again,

see myself if the lamppost with the dent
is the same still? wires sagging drunkenly;
if the same old cracks split up the pavement
made wider perhaps by that jamun tree.

We played barefoot, we rarely had shoes on
and had no business with the shoeshine guy.
I wonder if new hopscotch lines get drawn
and if the shop still serves our spiced up chai?

But what if the jamun has been cut down? -
tough that homes don’t always stay in hometowns.










20 comments:

  1. And how fortunate that homes do stay in hearts...

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  2. I never had a home town, so yes, true homes stay in the heart - and they are wherever you are now.

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  3. Hari OM
    Later returns often prove small experiences compared to our memories; but we form new ones from the return... YAM xx

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    1. Ya, have to agree. The first time is nearly always the best experience.

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  4. Indeed it's true that homes don't always stay in hometowns. As I read this,I thought what a great story idea!

    Denise x

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  5. No, sometimes we leave and the homes move. Going back to the old hometown and finding that the old home is no longer there, can be a bitter disappointment. I loved this one. www.hesterleynel.co.za

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    1. True! So many old buildings are demolished due to various reasons, it's hard either way - if you're there and know it, as also if you're not and find out later. No-win.

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  6. Hi Nila - yes home is where the heart is ... sometimes tied to memories of early homes - but then moving out and along as we age. Happy times ... but always there's change ... it's great now we're recording those early days ... either personally or historically through societies - cheers Hilary

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    1. Change is inevitable...can't do anything about that. Moving homes also seems part of it...exciting and poignant at the same time...you do a marvellous job of recording!

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  7. new hopscotch lines get drawn - I like that. Since I go to my hometown two or more times a year, I've seen many changes and then a lot of sameness. The trees get bigger and the traffic more dense. But I don't think Tony's Pizza will ever vacate. Nice poem to think about.

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    1. Very lucky if there are only gentle changes...I'd like a lot of sameness but that is rare. Though trees getting bigger is something I can totally live with :)

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  8. This is great! It's sad that our hometowns change from what we once knew, but the change is inevitable and not always negative. And I like how the last line suggests that home is not always a physical place, but maybe the feeling you get from being around certain people.

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    1. Home is rarely physical only it takes some time to internalise that...hometowns change and it's mostly for the better, if we can let go of the nostalgia for the 'good old days' :)

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  9. I've lived in the same county all my life, so I've seen most of the changes in three different towns during the last 50+ years. Just yesterday I stared at two new houses, recently constructed on what used to be a "turnaround" with a pay phone attached to a standing girder.

    I too, wonder if that dented lamppost has been replaced or otherwise altered?

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    1. Wow, you!

      I've never stayed put in one place more than 5-6 years at a stretch,spent less than a quarter of my life at ye olde hometown :) lots of dented lampposts to wonder about along the way...

      At some point I used to fret about moving around so much - we are fed on stories of rolling stone and moss etc. But then I got to be okay with it. Luckily moss comes in more than one shape and size...

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  10. While it's nice to have your home and hometown in the same place, I feel it's nicer to have a hometown to come to and relieve one's childhood.

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    1. Hmmm...can't disagree with that...my childhood wasn't spent at my hometown - can't relive it there.

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