# Exiting the Airport in Mobile **by Jessica Cloud** The bath water air Relaxing and oppressive Hits me like chicken broth as the automatic doors slide open It sidles up to me, forces me to drink tea, and curls my hair Both home and not-home A place I am both of and beyond This humidity is in my genealogy My ancestors sweltered here And oppressed others here And struggled here What here is worth redemption? There is much to be saved But my bitterness obscures that admittance My connection to this place is real And yet Resented Can I blow a sweet Gulf breeze through this stagnant air?