Emily Decker was born in Virginia, on the Chesapeake Bay, and spent her childhood in Ghana and her growing-up years in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds degrees in literature and secondary English education from Georgia State University, and her poetry has appeared in Yellow Arrow Journal, Full Bleed, Hole in the Head Review, and Bay to Ocean Journal. Decker currentlyresides in Baltimore, Maryland, where she also loves to participate in local theater, sing, and sail. Homing is her first collection.

About Homing: Where is home? All my life, this question has been a complicated one to answer. I can tell you where I was born, where I spent my childhood, where I’ve lived the most, and where I live now. But home? I’m not sure. Is it a location? Or is it found within the communities and relationships where we feel loved, safe, part of something outside of ourselves? Does it change? And what about the times when we don’t know where—or if—to return? The search for these answers is what led to the poems in this collection. At its core, Homing is an exploration of the transitory nature of belonging and its innate role in our desire for home, even as we try to define it. These poems reflect on the interconnectedness of the paths we take and the moments along the way—between tides and seasons, in nature, amidst love and friendship, within memory and loss, over generations, and most of all, within ourselves—as we seek, find, and return to a place called home.