Memory Miners
Last week, I facilitated the 2nd of two memoir writing workshops at the Asian American Center in Sacramento. Half way through the session, as I listened to their lst draft of memoirs, I knew I couldn’t leave. So we formed a club called Memory Miners and will meet monthly until the excavation and recording of memoirs become as comfortable as writing a grocery list. Membership is closed to the dozen who attended both sessions. Here’s a poem I wrote for the occasion.:
The Power of Ink
I can’t let it die.
Once I let its grasp on me
Loosen and uncoil, it will die
And I can’t let it happen.
If it dies,
Generations of my ancestors
From Hiroshima to Hawaii…
My grandparents, great grandparents I never met
My mother whose life I held with honor as I
Helped her live her last Alzheimer life.
They will all die,
Erasing all memories
From the slate of their children, grandchildren
And all future children.
I can’t let it die.
©frances h kakugawa
