{"id":3791,"date":"2023-04-21T01:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T05:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/?p=3791"},"modified":"2023-04-21T09:04:18","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T13:04:18","slug":"caponigro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/2023\/04\/21\/caponigro\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry Series: How I Become a Place; I, You, They, Us, We"},"content":{"rendered":"

By John Paul Caponigro<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How I Become a Place<\/h3>\n

I eat my home.
\n<\/span>I eat my yard.
\n<\/span>I eat the place I live.
\n<\/span>I put down roots by putting roots in me.
\n<\/span>They say we replace the cells in our bodies every seven years.
\n<\/span>That means this place has grown me many times over.
\n<\/span>We<\/span>\u2019<\/span>ve grown together.<\/span><\/p>\n

I often travel far from home,
\n<\/span>and so I take home with me.
\n<\/span>Searching all five oceans and all seven continents,
\n<\/span>I pass through them,
\n<\/span>and they pass through me.
\n<\/span>I\u2019m one place becoming another
\n<\/span>and many places becoming one.<\/span><\/p>\n

I savor the places I meet,
\n<\/span>not just fruit, not just fiber, also:
\n<\/span>air, water, even dirt.
\n<\/span>I\u2019m always full and becoming fuller.
\n<\/span>I crave intimacy with spaces, so
\n<\/span>I consume them and
\n<\/span>they consume me.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I go, I take parts of places with me and
\n<\/span>I leave parts of me with them:
\n<\/span>my skin, my hair, my scent, my flora, my blood,
\n<\/span>my breath, my words, my thoughts, my dreams.
\n<\/span>I\u2019m all these and they\u2019re all theirs.
\n<\/span>I become a part of them and
\n<\/span>they become a part of me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t read their scriptures wholly, so I digest them.
\n<\/span>To live more deeply in them, I put them in me.
\n<\/span>Ashes to ashes,\u00a0dust to dust, earth to earth.
\n<\/span>I was, I am, I will be all these things.
\n<\/span>What I\u2019ve taken out of them I\u2019ll return when I rest.
\n<\/span>I commit the ground into my body before
\n<\/span>I commit my body into the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

I, You, They, Us, We<\/h3>\n

Why must i capitalize i, when
\n<\/span>i don<\/span>\u2019<\/span>t capitalize you, or
\n<\/span>they, or we, or us?\u00a0 If
\n<\/span>i had to capitalize just one of
\n<\/span>these i<\/span>\u2019<\/span>d choose We not i. Or
\n<\/span>capitalize them all with
\n<\/span>respect. Maybe it<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s better
\n<\/span>to capitalize none. With words we maintain
\n<\/span>barriers built around ourselves and
\n<\/span>the<\/span><\/del> our world. It<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s not that i want
\n<\/span>you to be me or me to
\n<\/span>be you. i love the differences. i<\/span>\u2019<\/span>d
\n<\/span>like to really know them; see
\n<\/span>you and be seen by you \u2014\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 truly, hear
\n<\/span>you and be heard fully, stop
\n<\/span>building too many walls and build more
\n<\/span>bridges to beautiful
\n<\/span>me<\/span> you<\/span><\/del> we.
\n<\/span>What would happen if we
\n<\/span>only used we for
\n<\/span>a day, a week, a month, or a year? My joys and
\n<\/span>sorrows would be yours. Your joys and
\n<\/span>sorrows would be mine. We<\/span>\u2019<\/span>d
\n<\/span>share a common past, present, and future. Our
\n<\/span>time would be ours, not just
\n<\/span>yours and not just mine. Imagine
\n<\/span>what <\/span>should<\/span><\/del> could<\/span><\/del> would happen if
\n<\/span>we stopped calling it it and instead called it we and
\n<\/span>really let <\/span>each other<\/span><\/del> the whole world<\/span><\/del> us
\n<\/span>in. That\u2019s the future<\/del> the present i
\nhope for. i<\/span>\u2019<\/span>d like to give this
\n<\/span>gift to you, to them, to us, to
\n<\/span>we. Will you give this
\ngift to me, to us, to we?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By John Paul Caponigro   How I Become a Place I eat my home. I eat my yard. I eat the place I live. I put down roots by putting roots in me. They say we replace the cells in our bodies every seven years. That means this place has grown me many times over. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spire-2023-issue"],"yoast_head":"\nPoetry Series: How I Become a Place; I, You, They, Us, We - The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability - University of Maine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/umaine.edu\/spire\/2023\/04\/21\/caponigro\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Poetry Series: How I Become a Place; I, You, They, Us, We - The Maine Journal of Conservation and Sustainability - University of Maine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By John Paul Caponigro   How I Become a Place I eat my home. 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