what to remember?

 

the torrent of the present

how do we know what's worth the trouble to remember?

the question reminds me of standing under a torrent of waterfall in the Smokies,

my "now" a reality of cascading cold liquid upon my head,

and I am only in the moment,

that's almost how I feel living in the present

when so much cascades down upon me,

how can I notice what needs to be remembered?

I just visited with first cousins about their mother and father

who have passed away from our present,

I particularly remember the mother,

with every ounce of will available to her she loved her children,

cared for them, sang and played for them,

she saved everything she could,

including a box of string "too short to use,"

she filled countless boxes, 

now lost to those of us who might find

what we belatedly want,

one of her sons describes their filling 

every Goodwill donation box they could find with those boxes,

we are daunted and undone by the challenge of figuring out

what of the torrent upon us now should be remembered,

the present is a visitor who doesn't pause for us.

by Henry H. Walker

February 3, ‘26

the challenge of remembering

 

links in a chain

everyone deserves to be seen,

everyone deserves to be appreciated,

it gets more challenging to do so

years and decades after they've died,

there's a charge that works on me now

to have my generation carry the heavy load

and share stories and insights about our parents,

about who they were able to be

with what the world threw at them,

and how they did their best to be, and to do,

I use Zoom to record about an hour of family

reminiscing and visiting about the patriarch and matriarch

within a branch of the family,

stories shared call up other stories,

lessons learned, lives appreciated,

then offered through online streaming

that's easily accessible and shared:

no popcorn, but there are tears, laughs, "aha" moments,

and in the comfort of sitting around the digital "fire,"

the stories hold us and remind us

that their lights still can shine within us,

we are each links in a chain,

and we should explore the earlier links

to which we are still connected,

even though the circle of our current lives

can feel complete in itself,

as a grandparent I celebrate the forging of new links

to reach toward an indefinite future.

by Henry H. Walker

February 1, ‘26

agendas

 lists, and avoidance

everybody has lists,

either literal or figurative,

and we rank what we choose to do,

it is easy to deny, to ignore a choice,

why let someone's request of us

galvanize us into action?

we slip into procrastination,

into being daunted by the effort asked for,

so we don't invest precious moments in another's agenda,

we choose to be ruled by the easier path,

I love a cartoon strip which argued

that there is a sixty second rule,

if a job can be done in 60 seconds, do it,

and  the strip concludes with how easy it is to decide

that an action takes 61 seconds,

avoidance then can win over the dealing with it all.

by Henry H. Walker

February 4, ‘26