yup yup yup

I think about my frantic phone call home

realizing I had lost his horoscope

for getting
from the knowledge producer I knew
the one who had told me about the stars, the moon and my future…

being told my uncle was forgetting

I remember the panic when asked for his time of birth

( his, my son)

scrambled to the basement digging through diaries

for getting

his time of birth

but that was a time I was not recording

details

though the vision and feeling replayed

I dug further into the boxes he had packed and mailed to me more than 15 years ago

( he, my father)

knowing better than I did then that these books contained
knowledge

for I was to be the bard for his family

( his, my father)

he never told me that – but he knew and I knew

but
I forget
I forget

The baby book, the pediatrician’s handwriting, the size of his small head

all recorded

the time of birth

for getting
the horoscope work outsourced
by email
in languages I needed
my uncle to translate

the one who had forgotten where the papers were

a whisper haunted spoke
flashing a landscape from marine drive on a TV screen
as we watched the movie on netflix

my pre-memory flashed

you are the bard – the knowledge producer for the family

you must
re-
member….

whether you know it or not
whether you remember it or not
whether they hear you or not

you must
re-
member