HOME IN PIECES - A POEM
When home catches fire
No one waits there to burn
No one braves the water
Unless it’s the last place to turn
Home is in pieces, hastily packed
Home is whatever can be forced in a rucksack
It is displaced family spread farther than rubble
Home is a slowly puncturing bubble
And with every border climbed or crossed
Another piece of home is lost
A passport, a photo, a language, a daughter
So much of home has drowned in the water
Or left between interrogations and
Restless nights in railway stations
Home has become a breadcrumb trail
Without route or destination
Home is the threat of deportation
From leaders of another nation
Who from the comfort of their home
Or some governmental dome
Puzzle at migration
Like an unsolvable equation
And then without hesitation
Say go back to where you came from.
Dani Watson
Dani's poignant poem, 'Home in Pieces' responds to her participation in 'Forage', artist Henna Asikainen's project which, through foraging walks to National Trust sites connected migrants and refugees to the landscapes that surround our city. Here, away from the city participants shared experiences of landscape, migration and heritage.
Dani Watson is a writer and recent graduate of Durham University. Dani has been taking part in Common Ground through a joint mentoring programme with New Writing North which explores new approaches to cultural journalism.
No one waits there to burn
No one braves the water
Unless it’s the last place to turn
Home is in pieces, hastily packed
Home is whatever can be forced in a rucksack
It is displaced family spread farther than rubble
Home is a slowly puncturing bubble
And with every border climbed or crossed
Another piece of home is lost
A passport, a photo, a language, a daughter
So much of home has drowned in the water
Or left between interrogations and
Restless nights in railway stations
Home has become a breadcrumb trail
Without route or destination
Home is the threat of deportation
From leaders of another nation
Who from the comfort of their home
Or some governmental dome
Puzzle at migration
Like an unsolvable equation
And then without hesitation
Say go back to where you came from.
Dani Watson
Dani's poignant poem, 'Home in Pieces' responds to her participation in 'Forage', artist Henna Asikainen's project which, through foraging walks to National Trust sites connected migrants and refugees to the landscapes that surround our city. Here, away from the city participants shared experiences of landscape, migration and heritage.
Dani Watson is a writer and recent graduate of Durham University. Dani has been taking part in Common Ground through a joint mentoring programme with New Writing North which explores new approaches to cultural journalism.