Coming Home

Barre (Barry) Gonzalez 1964 (Shreveport, La.)

Free verse

The leaves of season play upon the porch
       That once welcomed little feet of my youth,
While the slapping screan door speaks the language,
       Of weathered years experienced alone.

Peering through the brown film of broken glass,
        Empty rooms guide my mind to yesterday,
And the whippoorwill that becons the days last rays,
         Pierces the silence in my soul.

                                                                 B. Gonzalez

About this poem

The homeplace of my ancestors , built just before the civil war is tucked away in the pine forests of East Texas. This place was heaven for me as a child, but something happened and I was not able to return for close to 10 years. This poem documents my trip back, this time as an adult.

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Written on November 11, 2001

Submitted by Zax412 on December 28, 2023

: 21 sec read
: 42 Views

Quick analysis:

Scheme	XXXX XXXX
Closest metre	Iambic pentameter
Characters	457
Words	70
Stanzas	2
Stanza Lengths	4, 4

Full analysis for Coming Home »

Barre (Barry) Gonzalez

Former high school English/Speech Com./Theatre teacher and volleyball and basketball coach. Playwright/Poet and stage director. "My focus has been on the plays I write. I've been fortunate enough to have colleges and high schools produce my plays in a 5 state area." more…

All Barre (Barry) Gonzalez poems | Barre (Barry) Gonzalez Books

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Jewoo525
Wow! I love the imagery in this piece. The rhyme scheme, in contrast to how short the piece is, adds a certain "longing" to the overall poem- it's like, I want it to continue but there's no more to show. The structure itself emphasizes how you must have felt returning to that place. Reading the poem description helped me associate that last part, but even without it, the imagery was strong enough to conjure up the feelings of that place for a reader who has never been there. I especially love the lines that personify the screen door- so haunting!

An excellent piece that deserves recognition. I would love to see more of your work, please keep competing! Keep writing. more »
LikeReply3 months ago

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"Coming Home" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/178248/coming-home>.

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