The following version of this poem was used to create this guide: St. Germain, Sheryl. “Going Home: New Orleans.” Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56346/going-home-new-orleans. Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number from which the quotation is taken.

“Going Home: New Orleans” is a free-verse poem by New Orleans-born poet Sheryl St. Germain. It is prefaced by a dedication: “for my grandmother, Theresa Frank.” In this poem, St. Germain draws from her Cajun and Creole heritage to create sensory imagery of New Orleans that brings the city to life. The poem explores the poet’s memories of the city and the benefits of slowing down to live in the moment. Many of the lines in the poem are long and continue onto the next line of the page. For the purposes of this guide, a “Line” refers to the text in between each intentional line break.