Somerville is in a state of constant flux and change. As time goes on we will see gentrification increase, changing our neighborhoods in many ways, both good and bad. Somerville Poet Theresa. Romanoff gives us her personal experience of this change in her poem: Number Sixteen.

Number Sixteen

Number sixteen on my street has disappeared from sight
It was torn down to make way for new condos
That huge family house stood on my street for many, many years
With a lovely family living inside
There was a mother, father, and children and later grandchildren came
I remember the hallways with hand painted pictures all over the walls
As time went by the father passed away, much later a son far too young to die
Not long later the matriarch; a lovely, kind lady to all she knew
The house was sold and developers stepped in and now the house is gone
The heart and soul of the property snatched away forever
What is left is a big hole, a huge gaping maw in the ground
You’d never know a home used to be there with flowers and grass all around.
And a grape arbors growing abundantly in the back yard
I turn my head as I pass by the place; it all seems rather obscene
To have a deep black hole instead of a home on my street at number sixteen.

– Theresa Romanoff

_________________________________

To have your work considered for the LYRICAL send it to:
dougholder@post.harvard.edu