Wilhelm Itchen (Etgen) aka “Grandpa”
Poem submitted to “All About Family” poetry contest, Len Gasan, sponsor, May 1, 2026
I found him in a box of dust-soft relics, a face blurred by time yet bright with family and memory. From brittle scrapbook pages, his life unfolded-piece by piece, his story rose—a German farm boy who fled Dorn, the sailor who leapt into Gulf-dark waters, swimming toward Galveston Bay and the faint glow of a future he hoped to claim. Texas shaped him with love, labor, and loss, eight children rooting his family deep into new soil. Dusk pooled in the attic around me, his courage moved through our family line into my own bones~a quiet inheritance. *You may find the accompanying memoir vignette at poetrysoup.com/short_stories/the_stranger_in_the_box_13607
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