A Memory

An Elegy

I love you like I love New York.

The waves there crash on the shore, breaking

even the toughest people into silence.

They carry those who have given up back to a forgotten sea

where they may find and remember love.

 

I love you like I love the pastpresentfuture blurring past my window

as we drive this odyssey from the South to the North.

It brings salvation to those searching through the blurs.

As this creation of adventure vines over a decrepit mind,

the love grows and we grin.

 

I love you like I love the smell of hot dogs, smoky and brown, on the grill.

The smell curls around us, tickling our noses and eyelashes

with winks of smoke. So we dance barefoot on the hot, unbiddin stones

and shuffle the cards for the next game on deck.

 

I love you like I love the taste of summer.

You roll off the tongue like the sugar of cool lemonade

that sparks in the heat and bounces around my mouth.

The fireworks rocket off, bursting in the sky like eyes blinking back at me, and

we clink our glasses to the taste of carmelized love.

 

I love you like I love the feel of the sun, drying my hair,

because I have spent my afternoon in a lake that

disregards my past and my thoughts and gives this:

There are no words, because words have become the ghosts of feelings.

The words for feel and taste and smell

used to live and take breaths; they've decayed and we've packed our things, giving up,

calling this a day, calling this a memory.

 

I love you like I love New York

and the word has escaped us

so we name it anew:

Nostalgia.

 

The waves scratch their nails slowly on the sand,

retreating back to the sea and

leave behind for the birds to pick at:

The words we had killed and had forgotten how to feel

Die slowly at our feet, whispering,

Remember me.

Reviews

[waif]

I think this is extraordinary, and I hardly use the word. It's so alive in its listing and mourning that you can't help but be moved and even angered - hurt by what we're reduced to and the ghost of feeling. I'm glad to have read this.

[Kelley Quinn]

Thank you! You understood exactly what I was attempting to portray

[DeCipher]

Absolutely love your descriptiveness in this poem! This actually left me feeling really good. Thanks

[Kelley Quinn]

Thank you so much!!

[DeCipher]

You are welcome