We Come Home

Featured in the May 2021 Issue of The Open Doors Review.

Poem By: Roan Shea

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Watch out
there’s a slippery patch just to the right
at the bottom of the stairs.
Directly at the bottom.

We didn’t know when we had it installed
there would be so many flailing limbs
and bruises,
or teenagers stomping up the stairs.

And we didn’t know these creaky stairs,
these deafening creaks would be
so important to us.
We have an understanding in this house don’t we.
I hear you, you hear me.

The more we walk them,
the more they creak under us­ —
the more they like to creak
about us.

If you’re upstairs,
listen for it—
we’ve come home again.

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Author Bio: I am a poet and actor living in Brooklyn, NY. Although I grew up in Massachusetts, Brooklyn was where my grandfather arrived after emigrating from Sicily at age 24. My connection to Italy comes from my grandfather as well as his siblings and cousins who still live throughout Sicily and other parts of Italy. I have only gotten to travel there once, so dreams of returning pile up and up and up.