Forgetfulness
When my memory
was a film library
with a keen curator
who knew precisely
where to find clips
of every word
I wished unsaid,
or deed undone,
to play back to me
on sleepless nights,
I’d have welcomed her
muddling the reels.
But now the curator’s
retired, the ordered
shelves are in chaos.
I roam the racks
without a guide
searching for scenes
I’ve lost. Sometimes,
unable to remember
what I’m searching for,
I find Forgetfulness
kneeling on the floor –
an old woman, pale
and worried as a ghost,
rummaging in a tangle
of shiny black ribbons.