Homecoming

Jennifer Gawinski Cuming

Coming home is a comfort,
sweet as hot chocolate
with mini marshmallows
on a fall day.
Soft as your white puffer jacket
you lend me,
still scented with your musky perfume.

I’m back—
my favorite time of year.
We walk in the woods with Edgar,
his paws tapping paper-thin leaves
along the path beneath him,
rouge as crimson lipstick.
I point with childlike wonder
at a tree ablaze,
its leaves glowing like fire in the rising sun.
I ooh and ahh,
can’t get enough of this tapestry—
the colors, the laughter, the easy talk.

My face stays warm despite the chill.
You offer me a hat and gloves,
but love radiates through me as we walk.
And when we return,
you heat up a bowl of lentil stew,
and my heart feels full again.

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Jennifer Gawinski Cuming
Jennifer Gawinski Cuming is a writer whose love for writing began as soon as she learned to read, and her love for poetry emerged when she’d watched the film “Dead Poets Society” in middle school. She earned her English degree from Lake Forest College in 2006. Her most recent work, inspired by the passing of her grandmother in March 2025, explores themes of memory, grief, and resilience.