What is Home?

And its Various Iterations

Hello beloved reader,

Thank you for being here reading these words.

I do love playing with words and writing ✍🏻 and I feel deep gratitude for having found such a skilled writing teacher as

Beth Kempton

, who holds the space so beautifully for playing, investigating, and experimenting with words and writing. And thanks also to the writer Kerri ní Dochartaigh who appeared in Beth’s class as a guest teacher, and who inspired the writing in this post. And of course lots of gratitude for Substack as a playground for writers and readers too.

After listening to Kerri ní Dochartaigh’s beautiful words, I spilled my own words onto the screen which formed the root piece of writing. From this root, I wrote an erasure poem—also known as blackout poetry—in addition to a personal essay. Below I share the personal essay first, and then the blackout poetry, with the blacked out root piece of writing at the very end. Enjoy!

in the form of a personal essay:

For me, home is deeper than just place. It is an essence, a fe…