MEMORY: A Necessary Struggle
Yesterday my husband put the app *Shazam on my cell phone
(*A method of identifying music simply by holding the phone
Up to a speaker to catch the song’s lyrics)
I left the room defeated and purposeless
Something else for which my brain does not have to work
There are days taken up in battle with forgetfulness
Days that end in celebration of memory’s grace
Now, what will I do
To replace that struggle
With a memory reticent
Holding on to those
Blessings only
To let go
In the upwelling of silence
In rooms wallpapered with lyrics that sing
The long fable of my youth
Waiting
Maybe, in an unplanned future 
When misdeeds have been packed away
In a dim and dusty corner
The attic of memory
Maybe, in an unplanned future
Will I stop straining to hear
Your exhaust’s familiar cadence
As your car in the valley draws near
Maybe, in an unplanned future
Your cell-phone Ode…will ring
And Joy will be un-ironic
As the tone and ode will sing:
Everything is all right
Everything is all right
