Bonded by neurologic woes and
Mutual devotion to scholarly pursuits,
We meet weekly on his narrow front porch to remember
Lives before brain protein clumps arrived,
When we woke, spoke, and moved smooth.

Still, remembering is not all we do.

We lament and debate,
Laugh and act young,
Make sense and create,
Speak less guarded,
Bare souls and live true.

The memories brand-new.

__________

Photo by Robin Jonathan Deutsch on Unsplash

Allan Cole is a professor in The Steve Hicks School of Social Work at The University of Texas at Austin and, by courtesy, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Dell Medical School. Diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2016, at the age of 48, he serves on the Board of Directors at Power for Parkinson’s, a non-profit organization that provides free exercise, dance, and singing classes for people living with Parkinson’s disease in Central Texas, and globally via instructional videos. He also serves as a Community Advocate for ParkinsonsDisease.net, and as a regular guest contributor to the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s Team Fox Blog, writing columns about living well with Parkinson’s. He is the author or editor of 12 books on a range of topics related to bereavement, anxiety, and spirituality. His latest books, Counseling Persons with Parkinson’s Disease (Oxford University Press) and Discerning the Way: Lessons from Parkinson’s Disease (Cascade), will be published in 2021. He is also working on a book of poetry titled In the Care of PlentyPoems (Resource Publications), which will be published in 2022. Follow him on Twitter @PDWise.