A visit from The Healing Muse: 'Home'

Deirdre Neilen, PhD: Ruth Mahr is a poet and an economist. She finds inspiration for her poetry often in Upstate New York's natural settings. But her poem "Home" demonstrates her poet's eye is equally meticulous indoors.

"Home"

is where the heart is

where the stove warms

yesterday's leftovers

where the refrigerator's

stocked with beer

and running cold

where the wash hangs

on a line strung up

in the basement

where toys and games

gather dust

in the hall closet

where the furnace

purrs

its winter silence

where a tea mug

on the table

is half full

and the bed

upstairs

half empty