What are the sounds or phrases that give away where you’re from?
I grew up in Pittsburgh, where the plural of you is yinz and fries go on sandwiches and salads. I always heard that Pittsburgh had more bridges than any city other than Venice, and though I can recognize this might be dubious, I do not care to be corrected. These are the Rachel Carson, Andy Warhol, and Roberto Clemente Bridges. The Fort Duquesne Bridge is off in the distance, as is that large Iron City Beer sign. I have not lived in Pittsburgh for a long time, but these bridges always feel like home.
Prompt #20: yinz guys
Start by making several lists:
words or phrases that are specific to the place you think of as home.
place names or landmarks - bridges, highways, well-loved coffee shops or bars
foods and scents that remind you of home
Explore the entries in the Dictionary of American Regional English for your area and pick 2-5 words you especially like the sound of. (You can see a portion of the dictionary without a paid membership; you can get additional odd words in the quarterly updates.)
What scene or story do those words suggest for you? Use as many of them as you can in your poem. If you’d like a shape, tell a story about a time you traveled home from elsewhere.
Sharing your work helps sustain momentum. I’ll leave the comments open, so you can share a poem title, a snippet of a line, or something else about your writing life. I’m also on twitter at @nancy_reddy and instagram at @nancy.o.reddy, if you want to check in there.