HOMESTEAD

By Mikayla Martinez


i want to rest my head on your chest
fall asleep to the symphony of your tender
heart beneath your ribcage
pull you around me like a blanket
keep myself warm with the down of your love
bury my nose deep in your shirt
and breathe the deepest breath i can manage because
you
     smell
            like
                 home.

Mikayla’s Bio: 

Mikayla Martinez is a Women and Gender Studies major at Rutgers University. She is a first-generation college student and a second-generation immigrant from Guatemala. She derives concepts from nature, anatomy, and films to use in her work, and finds inspiration in the tiny details of life.

Mikayla wrote this poem for her Intro to Creative Writing class with Richard Murray, who selected the piece as a WHR featured poem.