Old Haunt

in this little 
      coffee shop

squished between 
      the Hermitage
Home Depot 
         & Lowes

    I've spent more
  time
      than any house
I've ever lived... 

   It was here 
         I spent hour
 after hour
      reading, sketching, 
  writing, working... 

    talking with 
           old friends
       &
  making new 
                 ones... 

   It was here 
         that I broke up 
with my 
     high school 
  boyfriend

and spent
       the following 
   weeks
       adjusting 
to single-hood

    and eventually 
embracing it... 

   here I     
     deflected 
many a 
   creep,

   chatted with 
lonely old
      men 
         & 
    women

  frequenting 
       this 
caffeine 
      sanctuary 

 hoping for a 
        sense of 
familiarity...

   It was here 
my dad
      chose to 
visit me

  like some 
cold business 
        meeting...

  here 
     I acquired 
the taste 
    for my coffee black...

   here I escaped 
        from the 
suffocating walls 
     of the 
  small Christian
        college I attended... 

  It was here 
        I began 
to challenge 
    the way 
         I'd been taught 
  to think
       about the 
    world
       & 
   about God... 


  and though 
      I've traded
this old haunt 
       for new ones
  in the heart 
    of Music City, 

  it is here 
      that I come 
to reflect
      on all the 
  things that 
       make me 
who I am 
     today... 

  It is here 
       I still 
escape to... 

   here I feel 
home.