"More than a Map Dot" Poem by Billie Quesenberry

"More than a Map Dot" by Billie Quesenberry

Chrysalis Literary and Arts Magazine
Ferrum College, Spring 2016
Selected for AppLit by Abigail McGovern, 2021-22 editor

Billie Quesenbery, a 2017 graduate of Ferrum College, is from Floyd, Virginia. Her poem is reprinted here with permission after being published in the Spring 2016 issue of Chrysalis Literary and Arts Magazine. Billie won a first-place poetry prize in Spring 2015 for her "Where I'm From" poem, which is also reprinted in AppLit at this link.

The strong love and passion I have
for my hometown
is because of the way that it gave life to my soul.
I could have lived any number of different lives,
and I probably would have been very happy
in every one of them,
had I not ever tasted the mountain lifestyle,
which strikes a chord directly to my heart.

I cannot place exactly why
My love and passion is so strong
for a mountain,
the fields of dancing flowers
spotted with cows,
a single stoplight that guides
the whole community.

Although I am so rooted in my mountain town,
I think it’s not so much the mountains
that shaped me,
but more of the simple,
compassionate,
people who inhabit them.
My town is more than
a map dot.
It is my refuge;
My hope;
My soul;
My future.
Me.

This page created 7/22/22 | Top of Page | Site Index | Last update 8/16/22

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