TO THIS PHOTOGRAPH I SPEAK

My ancestors, at table, somewhere around 1928-29. From left to right:

Paula Piszk (married to Milan, my grandfather’s brother (not pictured, and who might be taking the photo));

Olga and Zerline (the sisters to whom I write in the poem, who were deported from Vienna to Lodz Ghetto, and finally to Chelmno);

my grandmother Theodora, seated next to Karl Oskar Piszk, my grandfather. They are newly married. My grandfather was in Dachau at the end of 1938 until early 1939. They left Austria in 1941, with the help of Karl’s other sister, Frieda (not pictured, and who also might have taken the photo);

and farthest right, Albert Handel, married to Frieda Piszk

In October/November of 1941, 19,953 Jews were deported to the Lodz Ghetto
from Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt/Main, Hamburg, Luxembourg, Prague,
and Vienna. — JewishGen.org

O My Aunts,
how shall I weep for you tonight?

You, at table, the ready accoutrements
of feasting, crystal awaiting wine,
pears round and full. O My Aunts,

where must I go to find your bones?
Draw me a map on one of these
linens yet folded in crisp peaks

before you. O My Aunts, how shall I weep
for you tonight?

________

Poet and photographer, Ronda Piszk Broatch is the author of Lake of Fallen Constellations, (MoonPath Press, 2015). Ronda is the recipient of an Artist Trust GAP Grant, and her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart prize. Her journal publications include Blackbird, Diagram, Sycamore Review, Missouri Review, Palette Poetry, and Public Radio KUOW’s All Things Considered, among others.

TO THIS PHOTOGRAPH I SPEAK

Ronda Piszk Broatch

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