That Strange and Well-known Place

in memory of William V. and Gertrud Eva Wood

I´m going back to a place
I´ve never been
travelling the distance of time
to faces half-forgotten
and much too young
in my waking dreams.

I´ve got a photo of my aunt´s
house from the outside
but it could be any house–
except for the living room
that´s vivid in my imagination:
with the Asian paintings,
survivors of the Vietnam War I despised,
and my folks I adored so much
on the couch right in front of them.

My cousin won´t be there at all,
or will she,
and what about her old piano–
it doesn´t really matter:
I know
I won´t be able to talk to them,
or look at the pictures
without hearing her music, somewhere
in that strange and well-known place.

Frank Joussen is a German teacher and writer. His publications include five book projects, published in India, Germany, and Romania. His poems and short stories have also been published in literary magazines and anthologies in India, Australia, G.B., Eire, Germany, Romania, Malta, the U.S.A., Canada, India, China, Thailand, and Japan.