As much as I can remember
keeps changing.
I have this sneaking suspicion
memories are escaping
through some unlatched gate
but I can’t remember
which ones have gone missing.
Sometimes my friends will
bring one back and we unwrap it
like a forgotten Christmas present
and watch it sparkle briefly
like a movie flashing
through a dusty window
and I quickly tuck it away
before I misplace it again
and then scold myself
for letting it escape.
How could I have forgotten?
But sometimes they bring back
ones they insist were mine
I remember it like it was yesterday.
that don’t look familiar at all.
Don’t you remember?
I’ll never forget it!
I’m amazed
they’ve remembered
and they’re surprised
I’ve forgotten.
If I remember back
far enough
sometimes I’m not sure
if memories and dreams
left unattended all these years
have jumped the fence and are
playing together in the dense fog
but be they dreams or memories
they seem perfectly content
to stay right where they are.
My earliest thoughts,
my oldest visions,
don’t move.
As far back as I can remember
never changes.
Ken Owen
Van Niddy Press May 2018
