This piece appears in the new Home issue of Louisville Magazine, produced in partnership with Louisville Public Media.

Poems

BY YOUNG AUTHORS GREENHOUSE

Home is

By Isaac Kleinman, Age 9

Home is a time to rest.
It smells and tastes like a break from school.
It sounds like freedom.
The bricks make me feel safe from negativity.
It feels like I have finally accomplished my goal:
To get through to the end.

My Home

By Nora Siegel, Age 13

Home exists because

my parents bought the house. I live in a neighborhood,

where every few houses, some of my friends live.

Some I don’t hang out with as much, while my neighbor,

I hang out with a ton.

 

Home is where I can

chat with my friends over FaceTime, where I can talk with my family

about the day.

I’ve never moved away from here,

so I keep my friendships.

What does home mean to you

Tessa Traversa, Age 10

Home is love. Being surrounded by loved ones. Love is everywhere Home is protection. Feeling safe. Home is family. Where you can feel loved. Home is everything in between. Full of love, kind and caring, safe with the ones you love, and happiness! This is what my home means to me.

Wonderful World

By Curtis Scott, Age 8

Home is the seven continents formed to make one great nation.

Home, despite the wars, we still stand as one. Home is the wonderful people who fight for us. Home is the kind people who died…for us.

Home is our wonderful world. We fall apart, we ignite again. Home is….

Cooking Up Thoughts

By Curtis Scott, Age 8

I love the kitchen as it cooks up wondered thoughts,

the smells that strike me as the pots boil. 

My head flames my pencil to paperwork

as the thoughts of my world drift me to another room. 

The same rugged smells people hate. 

I love the smooth tiles the same way it always is.

Home is

By Alyce Scott, Age 11

Home is strawberries, roosters crowing, cows mooing, pigs snorting and horses whinnying. Home is the rustle of leaves and the wind blowing giant gusts. Home is the dining room table and the excitement as the books come in for the next school semester. Home is the family homestead, the place of wonder, magic, and happiness. The place in which all my family members have walked and rode, whether it be in a carriage, an old-time buggy, or a car from today. A place where the scary outside world slips through my fingertips and gets blown away by the wind. The outstanding pressure of the world melts like ice cream from my heart, leaving me calm. Because I know when I am home, I am with the people who love me most. All the people who lived here before me have left their love here too. Home is where I am free.

home is

By Lillie Gernert, Age 14

Home is many things to me.

Home is a place. Home is a feeling. Home feels safe.

Home smells sweet.

Home is where I invite friends and family into our haven

and share good times and laugh. Everyone is welcome in my home. Home is where I can escape from the chaos of society,

a shield against the toxicity of the world and simply be me. Expressing my freedom and truly being free.

Home is where I can be myself.

What is your home like? Is it like mine? Am I welcome in your home?

Home is Love

By Carrie Mills, Age 11

Home is sweet,

home is love. I love home,

my home, sweet home. Home is heart,

home is love.

I heart my home,

home is where the heart is. Home is in Kentucky,

home is love.

I love my home,

my home in Kentucky.

At Home

By Isaac Kleinman, Age 9

At home, I am in my bed.

My bed is a lovely place.

I see all of the colors of my stuffed animals.

I can smell, well, air.

I can feel the stuffed animals in my hands.

The colors of my stuffed animals are blue, orange and white, green and black and white and brown, blue and light-brown and red and white and yellow.

The color of my bedspread is mostly blue with LOTS more colors that is too much for me to write.

I pretend that my stuffed animals are alive, and I like to do it a lot. It is also a place to sleep and take a nap.

It is also a place to cry everything out.

Home is

By Veekshith Nandan Vadlamudi, Age 10

Home is a wonderous, magical place.

It is a center to cultivate memories and to remember. It is a generator of happiness and a shelter of the old.

Home has no boundaries or extensions. It can be anywhere, in the ocean, in the sky and even on the earth.

Home is a place where not even dreams can fully capture its true power.

It is more than a few walls and pillars, you see, so use it wisely, for not everyone has the chance to experience a gift like home.

Home is an unforgettable place and is truly magical, so don’t let it fade away as any other ordinary thing

because it is truer than anything you have ever seen.

Home is a family!

Your Shell Home

By Sage Surra, Age 10

When we move

from house to house,

it sometimes feels as if we’re snails

constantly carrying our shell to very new places. The beige wet seashore, covered with

pointy shining shells, some of which

appeal to you.

But you know they’re far, far too big for your small, sluggish body. So

you carry your shell

home, somewhere else.

You bring your

beautiful luggage elsewhere, to the red-carpeted

footprinted hotel

and waiters dashing, dashing.

You know that surely you would never

ever be able to live here.

Well surely a forest would be good, right? Or maybe an

Amazon box would be better. Maybe both?

You travel to the Amazon Forest. The air is

fresh and warm

and there’s plenty of rain.

Just right.

How would you answer Louisville Magazine’s questions about home?