As Much As I Can Remember

     "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.

But sometimes they bring back

ones they insist were mine

that don’t look familiar at all

and say

     I remember it like it was yesterday.

     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...

                                I think.

Ken Owen 

Van Niddy Press   May 2018