Portrait of Poem as Journey Toward Home
Immigrants, people of diaspora, OFWs, and poets such as a Marwa Helal, share a striking similarity: a longing for home. “heathrow is my favorite” brings the reader to the place that connects the person in transit from Here and There, the airport, which is a symbol of transformation. In this poem, the reader journeys with the speaker of the poem in this conversation with a familiar face, the agent, as they search together, in this brief moment, home; and in this brief moment, they are home because of each other’s presence.
The poem title in itself is a gesture toward home. Personally, SFO, or San Francisco Airport, is my favorite because no matter where you go, there are Filipinos present. Workers, travelers, and locals picking up their loved ones alike, there is a pang of warmth with the familiarity. For example, in comparison to an airport like O’Hare, SFO is my favorite in the sense that I’ll feel most at home despite not being home. Helal adds this tenderness by explicitly stating “heathrow is my favorite.”
In the poem itself, the arrows, akin to those in an airport, denote to the reader confidence and direction. In this case, the speaker of the poem has arrived in London. Depending on the home to which the speaker is referring, the speaker is either once or twice removed from home. They’re not in Egypt, their birthplace, nor are they in New York, their current home. If the speaker chooses Egypt as their home, then this agent, too, is away from home.
In the first stanza, the arrows move forward, as though towards this destination: both London and the speaker of the poem and agent’s home. Helal makes this apparent in the closing line of the first stanza: “we both know what kind of poems i write,” referring back to one’s history, identity, and longing for our cultural home.
The second stanza slows down the pace of the speaker and reader’s travels. He provides his blessing with the arrows still pointing but now with one less arrow. The reader and speaker are still moving but are taking their time. This is a moment to relish: a moment of tenderness between two people away from home. It seems to pick up the pace again before the arrows are now turned towards the left adding movement to the speaker. The reader can’t help but imagine the speaker stopping to take one look back at the agent to say “thank you.” This is another double meaning: the speaker thanks the agent for the act of stamping their passport. The other meaning of the speaker’s “thank you” can be interpreted multiple ways: thank you for this conversation, thank you for being you, thank you for giving me permission to long for home in my poetry, and of course, thank you for being home for this fleeting encounter.