Goodbye house where I first learned to talk,
And begged, “Read it one more time, Dad!”
Goodbye school where I learned to read clocks,
And grew every year, just a tad.
Oh classic theater, I bid thee farewell!
There inside I watched my first toon.
Heartbreaking fire left you a shell;
Restorations came none too soon.
Farewell to summer burning my skin
And freckling up my pale face;
I went to work and held up my chin
While my friends all got on my case.
Goodbye to the books that filled a store
In the job I held in regard.
Hard casualties of an e-reader war
My love for you never once marred.
So long diner where I met with friends
For talking, or crying, or beers.
Over finding true loves, or true lover’s ends
You stood without judgement for years.
So long kind critics of written intent
Who taught me for who or for whom.
Your tore me apart, not without consent,
But to see my talent seeds bloom.
This town, the place I learned to mature,
Has left it’s strong mark on my past.
But now I am ready, able, and sure
To embark on my journey at last.
I’m venturing out, moving along.
I can’t take it all, more’s the pity.
I hope to succeed, hope I’m not wrong
For heading to a big Windy City*.
*While this poem auto-posted, I boarded a plane to Chicago with a one-way ticket in hand. I am attempting to make it in the big city. Should I find a job before my savings runs out, I will become a resident of Illinois. Should I run out of money, I will return to California knowing I gave it my best shot. There may be a few interruptions in my blog posts, but for the most part, I will continue to write as usual; I am after all, a writer first, a human second. That being said, expect pictures.
Wow, made me cry 😦
Hopefully nostalgic tears, and not sad ones.