to realize upon the page

 to keep true to the work

when I'm working to capture, to hold, to express an idea,

I am tempted by early choices of wording,

I read long ago some advice 

that I should discard

anything with an easy appeal,

warning that how much I'm attracted to a phrasing

might be more self-indulgence than clarity of vision,

there are furrows in my thinking

into which I can easily slip,

and that then shape my journey forward,

I can choose the easier path,

rather than breaking through the clods that hold me back

and need to be broken through

so that I am truer to the vision before me,

I am tempted by the clever phrasing,

the too common allusion,

at my best I hope

to capture, to hold, to express

that which hesitantly comes at me,

and wants to be realized upon the page.

by Henry H. Walker

July 7, ‘25

abrupt drops

 on edge

circumstance, and age, conspire to have me on edge,

I trace it all back to 1962,

when one day I had a father

and the next day he was gone,

that same decade assassinations abruptly

took away hero after hero of mine:

JFK, MLK, RFK,

plus Malcolm X, who I've added to my hero collection,

now I'm 77,  past 3 score and 10,

and susceptible to glitches in my health,

add to that the election of a President

who works hard to lead us back 

into economic and cultural disaster,

I can be fine, feel fine,

and then abruptly drop into despair,

I topple off the emotional edge

and tears sob through me,

I feel for my wife

whose heart is even bigger than mine,

and yet who knows better than I

how to "buck up" and endure,

I hate to pull her closer to the edge

that calls to us all who care,

we age toward an indefinite future.

by Henry H. Walker

July 3, ‘25

needing to be told

 

stories need to be heard

I love history,

the stories that exist

as prelude to the stories we live,

I love to hear the stories others live,

each of us fights battles little known except to us,

each of us seeks to make a difference for the better with our lives,

each of us is another attempt by God to get it right,

to use our gifts to give back,

I have felt and acted upon a calling

to record members of the broad CFS community

in video visits that allow stories to be told,

stories recorded, then the tender audacity within each life

can be heard, and heard again, and appreciated,

the way opens, the spirit is willing,

and the stories are shared,

every recording is a victory against entropy and dissolution,

and a celebration of the storyteller,

of they who live their story.

by Henry H. Walker

July 4, ‘25

the "young" in me, buffeted

 

grounded, but still mocked

my heart still feels "forever young,"

while my body mocks such self-assuredness,

I seek to be true to my foundation,

while I am buffeted and in tumult.

by Henry H. Walker

July 4, ‘25

out of fuzziness into clarity

 

moments of clarity

sometimes nothing speaks clearly to me

about what to write,

about what there is within 

that bubbles up enough

so that I feel I need to notice it,

that I need to pull the thoughts forward enough

so that the lines of their truth

call me to capture them,

I hope that in my wording I say clearly

what intuitively I feel wants to be seen,

only in the telling, the wording, the writing,

do I feel true to what comes 

out of fuzziness into clarity,

both it and I am the maker here.

by Henry H. Walker

April 15, '25

alive and well in the family!

 Happy Family Day

for Father's Day I was first able to schedule

a physical therapist appointment for my newly-complaining back,

that day I loved the time with my wife,

my calls from my sons,

delicious food, sweet gifts,

but I most needed my first physical therapist appointment

since my back had for a week before demanded attention,

what a time in life!

I realized again nothing should ever be taken for granted,

an even more significant gift came a week later,

as I had time in the Smokies 

with our sons and two of our grandkids,

plus a daughter-in-law and friends,

what a gift to a parent to see the best of what we hope to give

alive and well in the family coming after us,

I hope what I see in our sons

is somewhat of an echo of what we've worked so hard to give,

Happy Family Day!

by Henry H. Walker

June 28, '25

let self-worth shine!

 

coming home to one's self

I still dream of being a teacher at CFS,

with obfuscatory procedures coming between me

and my work with students,

at the heart of what I did best as a teacher

was my relationship with the student,

the specifics of subject and project not important,

the specifics of feelings and attitude vitally important,

at my "retirement shindig,"

student after student related their story with me,

they described how I saw them,

bonded with them,

helped them believe in themselves,

helped them reorient their psyche,

so that mistakes they had made

were not overwhelming disaster

but rather a misstep, easily corrected,

the way forward not beyond them,

just a simple reorienting of attitude,

so that each could embrace themselves,

and realize adolescence was a handleable challenge,

not a verdict that negated their self-worth,

I don't dream of these interactions,

so natural to me, and to them,

I dream of fear, a fear that I cannot find my way

to come home where I know where I am,

and all is right,

that fear of being lost and alone permeates my soul,

and time after time motivated me to connect

with student after student,

and help each find their way home to themselves.

by Henry H. Walker

July 1, '25