Home is–a place
Behind the stained glass doors
The entranceway with stacks of shoes
The rug caked with the dogs’ DNA
The kitchen where food crackles and pops like laughs at the dinner table
Crash! Smash! Dad breaks another personal weightlifting record
Sitting together as the movie opens
Snuggled under blankets by the warmth of the fire
The ominous creak as you walk up the stairs
The scars on my bedroom door from dogs’ scratches
The bedroom that has kept me safe and harbored me for so many years
Home is–community
The smell of taco steam wafting from the corner restaurant
My school since kindergarten, just blocks away
Pillow polo with the same gym teacher for the past nine years
The talent show, being a safety patrol
The park where countless pickup basketball games have been played
My closest friends’ houses like my second and third homes
The UPenn college campus where my dog and I roam
The water oasis only three blocks away–summer joy swimming with friends
Home is–a feeling
Love, comfort, support, courage, resilience
The love of licks and cuddles that my dogs give unconditionally
The comfort of laying on my sister’s cloud pillow
The support from my mother when a school assessment nears
The courage my 75-pound dog gives me when she goes outside at night
The resilience my dad inspires when I get injured playing sports
Home is–activities
When the ping pong ball drops after the sweep of my racket hits it over the net
The bounce of the basketball against the cold stone patio, then the swish
The pitter-patter of my feet in the hall as I practice fencing advances and retreats
My fingers slamming against the keyboard – I am alive, I am dead, I am respawned
The beep of the oven, the cinnamon sugar aroma, snickerdoodles ready to devour
Drew Feldman is an 8th grader at Penn Alexander School. He lives in West Philadelphia with his sister, parents, and two dogs. Drew is a competitive fencer. In addition to writing poetry, he also enjoys filmmaking and editing, as well as coding. In the future, he hopes to become a software engineer or a lawyer. Next year Drew will be attending Friends Central School.