Committed to Memory

 

It seems

she remembers 

everything.

Me

not so much.

I am not sure

when I began

to look right at the movie actors

and hear the bell of memory

ringing off in the distance

just far enough away

to make the sound of their name

undecipherable

(It was Eli Wallach

and she knew it instantly.)

My memory now operates independently 

judging the importance of names and events

regardless of my efforts

but there have been moments

when I knew immediately

I had witnessed the unforgettable 

like when I told my father 

that she was sick

his very last words to me were

“Well, tell her I’m thinking about her.”

I am fairly certain

I’ll remember that 

forever.

Ken Owen March 2023

Van Niddy Press