Charlotte Edwards
Heart City
I have my father’s stop signs
& my mother’s concrete foundations
Filling a city within me
I do not want to admit
they have made things in this city
broken things in this city
I’m selfish like that
I want to claim that my whole city
was built from my fingertips
that every shrapnel piece was by my design
I want to claim that when my city burned
It was by my own match
But it wasn't
A bakery with stained windows & hardwood tables
used to hum with song
but now stands in my city as cinder
I have not bothered rebuilding it
I have gardens of parsley and basil
Dotted with golden butterflies
& canaries singing wretched melodies
& I can’t claim that either
I believe my grandparents built that
But the libraries,
with their dusty books & half-awake conversations
breathing life into the city,
Those are mine for my heart is a city
& You are just living in it
& my mother’s concrete foundations
Filling a city within me
I do not want to admit
they have made things in this city
broken things in this city
I’m selfish like that
I want to claim that my whole city
was built from my fingertips
that every shrapnel piece was by my design
I want to claim that when my city burned
It was by my own match
But it wasn't
A bakery with stained windows & hardwood tables
used to hum with song
but now stands in my city as cinder
I have not bothered rebuilding it
I have gardens of parsley and basil
Dotted with golden butterflies
& canaries singing wretched melodies
& I can’t claim that either
I believe my grandparents built that
But the libraries,
with their dusty books & half-awake conversations
breathing life into the city,
Those are mine for my heart is a city
& You are just living in it
Biography
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Charlotte Edwards (she/her) is a poet based in Nashville, Tenessee, where she spends her time drinking too much hot chocolate. She loves to write about her experiences and observations from the world around her. She has work in/forthcoming at The Weight Journal, The Literary Yard, Rebelle Society, Spill Words, Teen Belle Magazine, and The Magnolia Review. She also was a finalist for Youth Poet Laureate for 2020. Currently, she is an intern at Southern Word where she hopes to grow her abilities as a writer in hopes of one day becoming a renowned poet. Find her on Instagram @Charlotte_The_Poet.
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