Tierra Latrice

Rememory St.

Southeast · Fairfax · Poetry

The breeze is my good friend
She meets me during the hours where
The sun shows no remorse

My street isn’t a quiet one
But it will fool you in some moments

Stories live here
Lively
Sad
Fearless

The house two doors down
Holds 4 generations
More on the way

The house just across
2 little girls greet summer mornings
Screaming laughter
Joy

Just a glance
You couldn’t tell of any pain
Loss

No
Not on this street
Not at golden hour
Not from my porch
Not through my eyes

The sidewalk
Just a path to you
A memory
To me
Where the wheels of my first bike (bratz)
Left skid marks after taking off on the 14th or 16th try

The driveway
The home of my first owned car
Dori

The gunshots at night
Oh, that?
That’s just the sound of America
Nothing to do with my street

There’s a tree
I’m sure took root
The day my parents brought me home

A house they built in persistent love
A home I’m sure was awaiting my arrival
My destiny

The house to my right
A 100-year-old woman lived

I remember her husband
I remember their love
Together perched on their porch

I wonder
Who this street was to them
What their lives were like
What they loss on this street

Before the house
Built in persistent love
Before my homecoming

Sometimes I count the cars
How many cars have I watched pass by
My life
What were they doing
When I laid in my lilac bedroom
crying
Where were they going?

Blindfolded
I could still walk every step
My legs know
What my eyes can’t see
So does my heart

This house
This street
My life
My journey
One

One whole being
Inside the other

Built in persistent love
Awaiting my arrival

My only soul remnant
Soul reminder
Of him
Loss

I remember the doorbell ringing
And the dog

Who’s dog?
Your dog
But where are
you.

Our parents
Their faces
I couldn’t read
The longest night of my life
The night I couldn’t leave the porch
The night I couldn’t feel myself breath

But
The breeze
The wind
My good friend
While pondering life without him

A brother
A street
A home
The anecdote to my life

A breeze

When she blows
I can remember
things
My soul won’t let me forget

Remember my roots
Remember my loss
Remember

The home built in persistent love
My home
On this street
With the wind
As my good friend

Tierra Latrice

Tierra Latrice grew up and lived in the Fairfax neighborhood for over twenty-three years. A graduate of the Cleveland School of the Arts with a major in theater, she went on to graduate from Kent State University with a bachelor’s degree in both Journalism and Digital Media Production. Currently, she works as a Marketing Associate, however her true love and passion lives in storytelling. She launched her first blog this year, PageWorthy, where she publishes her personal essays and articles meant to inspire healing and trauma particularly for women of color. It’s her life’s desire to write work that inspires and heals. She chose to continue to grow in her craft and treat life as a journey to be explored.

About

Neighborhood Voices is a city-wide creative writing project designed by Literary Cleveland and the Cleveland Public Library to engage writers across Cleveland, allowing residents to connect with neighbors, share stories of their community, and draft new writing about what makes their neighborhood unique.

Contact

216-623-2800
information@cpl.org
Cleveland Public Library
325 Superior Ave.
Cleveland, OH 44114

Project Created By Literary Cleveland

Literary Cleveland is a nonprofit organization and creative writing center that empowers people to explore other voices and discover their own. Through an expanding roster of multi-level classes, workshops and events, Literary Cleveland assists writers and readers at all stages of development, promotes new and existing literature of the highest quality, and advances Northeast Ohio as a vital center of diverse voices and visions.

Project Presented with Support By the Cleveland Public Library

Founded in 1869, Cleveland Public Library serves the residents of Cleveland through its network of 27 neighborhood branches, the Main Library downtown, Public Administration Library at City Hall, homebound delivery services, and mobile services to daycare and senior centers. From a collection of 10.5 million items, the Library lends over 5 million items a year to its 330,000 registered borrowers and to 43 other CLEVNET-member libraries in 12 counties across Northeast Ohio. Cleveland Public Library is home to the Ohio Center for the Book and the Ohio Library for the Blind and Physically Disabled, serving all 88 counties in the state of Ohio. For more information, visit cpl.org.