make the music stop the tune is unfamiliar
& why have those Schumann etudes deserted me
& given the choice i would always prefer the
accustomed knife-thrusts of Bernard Hermann
to some anodyne soundtrack & the climax of
Vertigo always reassuringly distressing
watching Kim Novak die again as she falls
from the bell tower & there’s the happiness
of recognition when you meander through rooms
of paintings rediscover The Peaceable Kingdom
naïve piles of quiescent animals staring ahead
at the viewer & the sense of déjà vu
that i might have lived in that desolate grey
Edward Hopper house on that uncanny quiet
street
to wander about in times
that do not belong to us
& finally to return to the predictable
assuagement of home what a revelation
to surprise a recognised intruder who’s
usurping your bedroom just your own
reflection in the cheval mirror
for what is life
for me
without thee
Poem
Familiarity
Carolyn Gerrish