When Katie and I started dating, she was living in a shabby two-bedroom apartment in a quiet complex in the small town of Clinton, Tennessee. It was easily an hour drive from her place to mine and at least 45 minutes to anywhere else noteworthy. Still, I’d make the commute every single day on those weeks I’d stay with her and was grateful for the opportunity. There’s not much in Clinton aside from some of the best antique shops in the area, our wedding venue, and a gas station called “Git’n’Go” that, unfortunately, doesn’t sell t-shirts.

Still, I’ll forever cherish those days in the Clinton apartment. There were two places where our love formed: that apartment, and the home where we still live. This poem’s challenge was to recreate a memory.

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“Clinton” (Memory)

A cabinet falling off
A half-eaten giraffe*
A balcony with plants
A chalk-painted table
A tapestry on the wall
A box fan on a stool

A pertinent environment
A beautiful love

*This references a dog toy our boys shared. Not an actual giraffe, in case that wasn’t obvious. Clinton has a giraffe population of approximately zero.

-jtf

This is post 21 of 30 in my most recent attempt at tackling NaBloPoMo. Funsies and such.