First Friday Poetry August 2025


I'm joining 
Beverly A Baird & Linda Schueler again in a year long poetry practice. On the first Friday of each month we, and anyone else who joins, writes a poem and shares it. This year the focus is going to be on using poems to inspire us.

This month we are writing about “Where We Belong” based on this poem.

A while ago I purchased Finger Exercises for Poets by Dorianne Laux. The first chapter asks us to really look at a thing: to carry it around with you in your pocket and pay close attention to it. This past month, I have carried the word 'belonging' around with me like this. I've savoured the feel, sound, and taste of it in my mouth and memories. 

Then last week, Tim Minchin, an Australian singer songwriter released Time Machine, his first album in ages. Not Perfect, a profound song about belonging, is on it.


Growing up, I never felt like I belonged. Living in a small town with a father who used a wheelchair and stayed home, while my mother went out to work, played a huge part in this. We were different. 


Here's my poem. I've stolen those end lines from Tim. 


where i belong


i belong

in my home town:

it wasn’t always like this


half a century or so ago

when i left 

it was: 

too small

too limited

too homophobic

too misogynist

too racist

too redneck


in these intervening years

i’ve changed

it’s changed

i might be flawed,

it might be flawed,


the thing is,

this landscape,

it's imprinted on my heart:

ghosts of my ancestors

haunt these streets and hills

weaving me into the tapestry

of this place and this community


half a century later

i've finally figured it out:

this town,

it's not perfect,

but it's mine