"Exploring the Complexities of Home: A Free Verse Poem about my City"

I wrote a poem based on a prompt that stated to start a poem with the words This City...

Here is that poem. The poem describes my home city along with its beauties and non-beauties. I hope you enjoy it.

This City by Mikayla Young

•  Wrote on July 31, 2023, Edited on January 24, 2024

This city is unique in that people wish to leave

it is a small town where gossip spreads at the speed of light

and it can be tough to escape the negatives of the past.

The irony is that as one grows older and struggles to provide for themselves and their family,

to be happy, and to enjoy the simple things in life,

this small town finds methods to entice one away

from the negative and back to the positive.

How, one would wonder, does it help one forget the negative even for a moment?

Simple things like the fact that everyone knows just about everyone

and that at least one person out there will be willing and kind enough to help them in whatever way they can.

The day coming and going with the sun rising and setting,

nature and the animals within it surrounding the town's people making them a part of the world not just someone living on it,

lake and mountain views that make them forget

about the negatives and stress allowing them

to focus on the good and beauty in the small things in life.

The small-town city's ability to provide

quiet, comfort, and support

when needed is what makes

the people who live there never want to leave.