Tatiana Lyulkin is a Ukraine-born, New York-bred poet and playwright living in San Mateo County. She writes poetry in three languages (English, Russian, and Ukrainian) and has been published in many magazines. She also writes religious poetry.
Poem on Belonging
THE CITY OF DREAMS
Wake up,
Wake up and go home
To East Palo Alto—
A secret place
Within your heart
Where red roses bloom
In the middle of February.
There is no snow
In East Palo Alto
But when the rain comes,
It comes down hard.
“We need the rain,”
Aunt Laverne says
As she looks out of the window.
East Palo Alto
With its own sense of style,
Its own music,
Its own drama.
East Palo Alto
Is tough as nails
And protective and kind
At the same time.
It cracks jokes
When it feels like crying
And when it’s angry—
Run for cover!
The city of my dreams,
A place of pure magic,
East Palo Alto,
Where’re you at?
Copyright © 2019 by Tatiana Lyulkin. This poem originally appeared in Speak Poetry Vol. 1. Used with permission of the author.
Speak Poetry in San Mateo County 