Foreign Hometown

Finally I went back to visit Taidong after four years. I thought I would be overwhelmed by seeing the familiar streets, houses, and other things; but everything was at the same time so foreign to me.

That was the very first time I felt that my hometown was a new place to me. I went to get my new ID card and spent some time riding the beat-up scooter around the town. I subconsciously landed on the street where the chapel is located. There I saw some new rocks lying around the old coconut trees.

I then swung by J and M’s company. They were surprised to see me and so was I to them. Many have moved away and so much has changed and we are no longer young. The evening was deadly quiet; and I thought I heard the sound of waves from the Pacific. I totally forgot how tranquil it could be in Taidong.

The day before I came back to Taipei, I spent a few minutes at the beach, looking at the blue ocean and Green Island lying afar. The County Government has converted the beach into a park. It apparently attracts many people during the weekends. I still prefer the untouched beach, a place full of my childhood memory, typhoon holidays, and many watermelons floating in the sea after typhoons hit the island…

On my way back to Taipei, I penned down another poem…

Half yellow half green
Lies my natural carpet of dream
Mountains on the left
Ocean on the right
A train leaves everything behind my back
Hippocampus fires
Familiar images of past
Scooter wanders on quiet paths
Air remains fresh
People still laugh
Yet my heart no longer aches
Should I rejoice
Or feel sad
For all seems so foreign to my winding mind
In this city of wind and sand…

Written by Jerski Bjorksen