Oral history by Oxford dictionary has an elegant definition ~
“collection and study of historical information using sound recordings of interviews with people having
personal knowledge of past events.”
~~~~~
Oral history ~
the stories passed one to another
lost in our digital world
unearthed over one more kitchen table,
while on a walk chatting our lives
at a workday pause about
our experiences, our pasts and our family stories
or even when speaking to the woman in the mirror
seeing her mother or grandmother
with an ‘OMG I look like her!’.
~ history staring her right in the face.
hearing history with a “Doesn't he sound just like your uncle!”
True oral history ~
much deeper and more sacred.
valuable tradition lost in
the pages of books and pixels on a screen
without the embellishments of storytellers
gifted with holding this cherished tradition.
hands engaged with mirages of old challenges ~
faces weaving story with smiles, laughs and tears ~
searching stares to the heavens -
pacing through the paces of history
in a family, a culture,
battles fought and won or lost
with the strengths and cautions
of the past.
Oral history has been silenced
in these days of lockdown and social distancing
yet still present ~
ridden in on the threads of our lives
like the notes of a simple song, a blues ballad or a great symphony’
“All history was at first oral.”
~ Samuel Johnson
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