Memory needs no calendar.
It needs no reminders.
It needs no special events of a day.
Memory lives within the body.
In the muscles. In the tissues.
In the nervous system.
Memory exists in a weather pattern.
In the cool crisp air of a September day.
In the clear blue sky of a fall morning.
Memory exists in sounds:
In the wails of ambulances and fire trucks.
In the rumble of helicopters overhead.
Memory exists in sights.
In planes that appear to be flying too low.
In hordes of people running through the streets.
Memory exists in scents.
In the the fumes from smoke.
In the the smell of burning debris.
Memory exists in the void.
In the empty hospital gurneys awaiting patients who never came.
In the strange silence of empty streets.
Memory is unbound by time or place,
Yet it can be triggered by both.
Memory cannot be erased or forgotten,
Because it lives within the embodied experience.
For those who learn secondhand,
For those who were not there,
There are details to recall.
Reminders to “never forget.”
For those who were there,
The memory lives eternally.
We remember what we embody.
We remember what we experienced.
We remember not because we don’t want to forget,
but because we have no other option.
The body remembers.