Home is an Island

borage tomato maracuya

pepino dulce and lemon

home is an island, a corner of peace,

my small imperfect paradise and the city

roars outside, blistering under the sun

helicopters coil the sky searching

for a man on the run

chopping the air the children

bewildered they paralyze

borage tomato maracuya

pepino dulce and lemon

my nerves strain, suffering abounds,

a terror spun from violence and gangs

and neighbors not having what would suffice

and the city roars outside,

blistering under the sun

through frayed brittle tempests

I sit quietly, a new life begun

jasmine lavender aloe strawberry peppermint,

medicine tea and spice borage tomato

maracuya pepino dulce and lemon

buzzing with the heat of small bodies,

home is bright and young happy feet meet me

blowing kisses to ask me for advice and the city

roars outside, blistering under the sun

the garden sprouts chamomile

nasturtium and dandelion

the soil inside my hand,

a steady calm that mystifies

while the city roars outside,

blistering under the sun

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Tatiana Chaterji is a multilingual teaching artist in theater and poetry and restorative justice practitioner. She was a 2017 Playwriting Fellow at VONA/Voices. She completed her MFA in Creative Writing at Lindenwood University in 2024. Living with a traumatic brain injury from community violence and grieving the loss of too many students to interpersonal and state violence, she writes to recover human connection across chasms of pain.

www.tatianachaterji.com