Lindsey Prewitt
Johnson County Library is pleased to announce that Lindsey Prewitt has won our poetry contest on the theme Family with her poem "One Step Closer."
Lindsey Prewitt grew up in a small mid-Missouri town and lived a childhood running the quiet brick streets of her neighborhood. Everyone knew everyone and family was a very broad term in those parts. After graduating high school, she obtained her undergraduate and masters degrees in education at the University of Missouri. Upon completion, she moved to the Kansas City area where she taught high school English and creative writing. Currently, she's taking a break from teaching to raise her three book-loving kiddos and pursue her writing interests in a chaotic and completely fulfilling season of life.
“One Step Closer”
The whole town knows
when my family celebrates
as our cars line the street
and we pile into the too little living room
to live a little bit louder on a
fading evening in mid-July.
The mosquito didn’t get invited so I shoo
him away before I open the screen door
and purposely let it slam behind me
as my arrival announcement.
“Kimmie’s here!” Uncle Ray shouts.
Heads whirl and arms are thrown out
as if the group is breaking
into a choreographed flash dance.
Hugs from hairy arms, delicate arms,
and shirt sleeved arms that smell
of beer and tobacco.
Like being wrapped in an old sweatshirt
despite the snags, holes, and that one stain
you never could get out but feels like part of the shirt’s
original design now.
I find the birthday boy
sitting in his wooden kitchen chair,
a peaceful shoulder slump
as he leans forward on his cane.
Deep wrinkles in the corners of his mouth
and whipping out from his eyes
in all the right places—laugh lines.
For a moment, I glance back to scan
the crowd of faces.
Little family resemblance to this family head.
My dad’s words silently replay—
we’ve got more steps in this family
than the Empire State Building,
but family is family.
Every first choice isn’t always right,
but that doesn’t mean
it was a mistake.
A choice might just lead you to a step,
And that step, a little closer to happiness.
A room full of steps—
we might just climb a mountain someday.
I exhale and resolve to let go
of the weight of first choices,
and breathe in the gift
of steps in my life.