{"sf1_id":1729339,"sf2_id":"AnK8qX1E","title":"I've Lost Count of the Homes That I Have Lost","author":"Rob MacWolf","words":272,"posted_at":"2021-06-13T02:16:00.000Z","tags":["Envoi","Iambic pentameter","Poetry","blank verse","sonnet"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1729339-i-ve-lost-count-of-the-homes-that-i-have-lost","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/AnK8qX1E","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/22/01/22012499-9d34-43b0-8c8f-a3d92946e4aa","description":"#40 of poetry\n\nWe lost the house, even after having our offer accepted.\nI'm so tired of this.\nOn the plus side, I think this \"Sonnet, Blank Verse, Envoi\" form has promise, it needs a name though.","content":"I've lost count of the homes that I have lost.\n\nOne time too many I've been driven out.\n\nOn futile search my substance to exhaust,\n\nIn barren soil to sow my crop of doubt.\n\nI am no longer young. My years have worn\n\nOnto the age I ought to put down root,\n\nOr else accept my roots are all stillborn\n\nAnd never may my life look to bear fruit.\n\nPerhaps if I were wise, I'd wed the road.\n\nI'd walk the night's limininal liberty.\n\nNo debt to shoulder, no rent to be owed,\n\nAs any other vagrant pauper, free.\n\nI should not. I can not. My family\n\nStill needs a home. Perhaps they still need me.\n\n  \n\nThe first was my grandmother's house. I am\n\nNo longer welcome there since I am gay.\n\nThe same goes for my parent's house. The trees\n\nI planted there, I'll never see bear fruit.\n\nTwo houses on the mountain shoulders were\n\nPerforce surrendered. Each time to a straight\n\nCouple who, landlords said, needed it more.\n\nA third down in the valley of the rose\n\nA job was lost, and it slipped out of reach.\n\nSince then there have been five, at least, I think,\n\nAlways the same result: we meet their price\n\nOnly to find that someone else will pay\n\nBut half as much again, then flip or rent.\n\nAnd we, who only wish to live in it\n\nHave wealth enough at last, but are forbid\n\nFrom spending it upon the home we need.\n\n  \n\nTomorrow I'll begin the search anew.\n\nComb through the listings. My search widen, too.\n\nBecause what else is there for me to do?\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"poetry","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1724812-dear-concerned-estranged.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1739353-either-your-god-hates-me-or-your-religion-doesn-t-work.json"}}