Going Home

Danielle Salerno

After Juan Felipe Herrera

Wend your way under the rust red bridge
nose to nose with developers and deer
devouring the forests, both
and consuming the cornfields of my youth 

Amble down the straight, flat roadway
lined with cigarette butts 
in lieu of sidewalks
till you find the place
where the dogwoods never flower 
yet refuse to die
where the pipes and the senators
are both a bit crooked

Genuflect at the roadside shrine
and commune with its ghosts -
the dogs
the mother
the girl you were 

They’ve been waiting for your offering
under the warped rhododendron grave 

You’ve arrived now with your entourage -
you and your body
and your dilapidated dreams
Only to realize you never left.

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Danielle Salerno
Danielle Salerno is a poetess and Jersey Girl currently sweltering in Southwest Florida. Her work has been featured in The Tongue is Sharp: An Anthology of Feminine Rage and Scenes of a Better World Zine, and is forthcoming in the inaugural issue of Prudence Dispatch and the Roots and Ruin 2025 Anthology by Arcana Poetry Press. When her nose is not firmly planted in her notebook, she can be found singing with the Fort Myers Mastersingers and chasing her loved ones around with a Tarot deck.