PHYLLIS BECK KATZ, POET
  • HOME
  • About
  • Books
  • Poems
    • She Introduces Herself
    • In Between
    • Burning Bush
    • Ghost of Global Warming
    • Her Tulip Tree
    • Masks
  • News & Events
  • Reviews
  • Contact
  • New Blogs

POEMS/ Lost Memories  

photo album
Lost Memories

I tried to remember my ancestors,
called up their names and places,
summoned them to speak.
They came as shades and faded
back into their darkness before
I heard their stories. I tried to catch them--
the sagas of my past were lost, my parents
burying their beginnings beneath their lives
together, both offering now and then
at most a fleeting image from a past
they did not want to share.

I found a book of memories beneath
my pillow, leaves tattered, pages of the past--
old family lore, mixed with stories that are mine.
I tried to salvage what I could. 

From Migrations (Antrim House, 2013)

Copyright 2018, Phyllis Beck Katz. All rights reserved.