The Art of Remembering Your History
The Art of Remembering Your History
The Art of Remembering Your History
by Christian Ward
I do the same ritual every morning while the clouds wrap their blanket around the sun. Practice Italian and Spanish. Trace my fingersalong paths of cheekbones inheritedfrom my mother and all the mothers before her. Gaze into the bathroom mirror to make sure my chestnut eyes,
a hand-me-down from my mother borrowed from autumn, are still in good health. Sometimes I'll bakea focaccia and remember how its dimpled
surface contains the history of my grandfather. The salt on my lips after tasting it is a lesson in understanding how you're just borrowing bones
for the next generation. Every roomI've lived in will be left a part of me. Perhaps, after I'm gone, my sonwill assemble this map I've madeto show the direction our souls goafter we've parted.