An Ode to Radcliff

Rat City

I never drive through Radcliff anymore
Except when I’m creeping on the house I grew up in
And I remember slumber parties with my sisters
And how our street was always plowed when it snowed
Because we lived two doors down from the mayor

I don’t go to Radcliff anymore
Except when I want to see my best friend’s old apartment
Where I had my first Smirnoff and cigarette
Except when I want to find that one tree in Saunder Springs
That I carved “I heart Josh” into when I was seventeen.

I never go there anymore
Except every time I go to my mom’s grave
Which just happens to be right by my high school
Where I made friends who I cared about more than my family
But who I never talk to anymore.

I haven’t been to Radcliff in ages
But I remember when the new Walmart was built
And how I would walk there from church
Instead of listening to my father preach at people
And tell them how to live

I don’t go to Radcliff
But I can’t escape the bus crash of 1988
Where 27 people died two months after I was born
And every year an anniversary of death
Follows my birthday

Even though I don’t go to Radcliff
I remember Colvin Community Center
Where I took swimming lessons when I was six
And where I had my wedding reception when I was 21
Both times ready to sink or swim

Radcliff is memories and marching band
Fights with my dad and missing my curfew
It is pain and loss and growth and love
And I don’t go there anymore
Except when I do