Memory

It’s just me collecting words from memory to bring forth a future.

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dVerse prompt on memory combined with writing my first American sentence.

Family Name

I followed my family name

to Yorkshire cemetery

where those old family headstones

held the dates of birth and death

those old Anglo Saxon names

etched upright in native stone

surrounded old Roman church

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bell tolled to gather us in

stone baptismal at the door

I drank from silver chalice

the vicar offered me

in the rite of communion

aware of ancestral lips

that had taken worship there

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I search Proctor family name

Old English word proketour

occupational surname

for those who worked as steward

from the Latin procurare

to manage spiritu cors

keeper of the key— that’s me

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NaPoWriMo prompt to delve into your name

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C as in Cat

Cat

Calm

Claws

Capers

Chasing

Cautious

Companion

Caterwauls

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NaPoWriMo prompt on letters of the alphabet and a dVerse prompt on a pet companion.

Returning

 

October 30, 2019, returning from Athens to NYC.   My daughter and I had traveled together for two months without having any major disagreements. There was just one night in Dubai when I was verging on being a selfish, judgmental person; I got over it. At the outset of the trip, I said I wanted only three things— to go to Prayer Mountain in Ghana, to do a day trip to Morocco, and to visit Pompeii.   I am easy to please most of the time.

 

I take it back. There was a moment on the train from the Athens airport to our hotel in the heart of Athens when I was so nervous about getting off at the correct station that two pickpockets targeted us. My daughter felt a hand in her bag and looked the thief in the eye. He bolted without her wallet. It was an elaborate scheme where one thief held the door from opening, while the other went for the cash. My lesson— stay alert, don’t become a victim.

 

Now that I am remembering— the other time my daughter got mad at me was at the Catania Airport when I turned into an “ugly American” and told off a group of Italians on the tarmac bus to move closer together so everyone could get on. I was shouting in English and nobody moved an inch.

 

 

trip of a lifetime

pray for Europe  Africa

and all of the world

 

 

 

dVerse prompt to use a poem written about myself and write a haibun based on that poem. I used my poem Language written October 7, 2019, while I was on this trip and at one point, didn’t know where I was. Now I pray that someday I can return, especially to Ghana.

Language

For a second

can’t remember

what country I’m in

or if I’m even in

a country

or the world of

confounded language

on a day of shining sun

lost in

my own body of experience

regardless of home

sound of English singing

in Portuguese

Meeting a Writer at Lake Bosumtwi

When you return will you bring me a writing book?

the English was heavily accented

the face was young and inquiring

English I say

When you return will you bring me a writing book?

I heard the word clearer now and know of a request for book

any book I ask

a writing book

Are you a writer I am a writer

Then I remember that I have a small moleskin book in my bag

I bring out the book and present it to him

I hope he becomes a writer

I see him in the distance walking home with his book

We wave goodbye as I leave Lake Bosumtwi.

Mixing Languages

  

One day at a time

languages come together

through the mixing of people

combine their languages

in effortless communication

words heard and spoken

roll off their tongue