Hoosier Poet

Thursday, December 4, 2025

Finished

Finished

Forty Two minutes,
Fifty four seconds, and then
I got my medal.

Wednesday, December 3, 2025

Last Night

Last Night

Like a dam had burst,
I wept openly last night;
bittersweet relief!

Monday, December 1, 2025

I Don't Remember

I don’t remember

I am sure it happened.
It must have happened.
But…
I don’t remember.

I don’t remember
my mother singing me to sleep
or running her fingers through my hair.
It’s not that she didn’t,
or that she didn’t care,
It’s just…
I don’t remember.

I don’t remember
the last time my old man
said “I love you”
or if he ever said he was proud of me
before he passed away.
Surely he did?
Surely he was?
And yet…
I don’t remember.

I don’t remember.
I struggle to recall,
and I fail every time.
So I make extra effort
to sing to my kids,
be silly with them,
run my fingers through their hair,
pick them up,
hug them,
hold them,
Tell them I love them,
Tell them I am proud of them,
just for being themselves,
so that one day when it’s too late
they won’t have to struggle
that same struggle I do,
they won’t have to try to conjure
a lost thought
(if it ever existed?)
and say those words
with the same tears I shed…
the same sorrow
the same frustration:
“I don’t remember.”

Instead,
when I am gone,
let their tears be happy
though bittersweet,
Full of memories of love and pride.
That one day,
they may look back
and say firmly through the tears:

“Yes, I remember!”