Poem a Day, #3: Departures

Departures

I have departed many places.

The first seven were involuntary.

My parents decided we would leave

Virginia;

Havre de Grace and Silver Spring, Md.;

Washington, D.C.;

Avenue P and 20th Avenue in Brooklyn;

West Haven, Conn.;

Levittown, Pa.

Each new place a new possibility,

but each new place had new rules and customs,

new ways to pronounce common words,

new ways for me to be a newcomer, alone.

Does anyone remember my name?

I departed Gladwyne, Pa., voluntarily and with glee,

to leave home and be on my own was my goal.

I departed college twice, voluntarily.

Settled in New York City, again my goal.

I departed many jobs, voluntarily.

Here I've lived, in the same apartment,

for 45 years. I will live here, I hope, until,

involuntarily, I depart this world.

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/the_carriage.png