I don’t know
How to row
The boat of pain
In heavy rain
That floods the river
Makes trees shiver
Putting them in agony, in an anxious fever.
I really don’t know, my mate,
How to row
The vessel of memory
Against the flow
Of the water that leaps the bank,
drifts the port and breaks the plank.
Pains and Memories
Memories and Pains
Every moment they drain and drain
The happiness, the energy
The smile, the bliss
Suck my heart with a Dracula kiss.
One day, then, I dreamt a dream
When the night was about to trim
The day’s hair, the day’s fringe
My days pass by like a movie cringe
I took a sharp knife from the kitchen’s paw
Cut my memory with its ruthless claw
I also cut the green chilli, onion, garlic
Marinated my memory with a ginger stick
Threw the yellow oil in the brain’s pan
A hard-boiled simmering then began.
I invited the pen and the friends on the weekend
Served my pain and memory roasted, red,
They tasted my memory, my labour, and the food
Held with bursting eyes, “It’s so good!”
I learned then, then I know
How…why…when to row
The ship of pain
The memory titan
Heavy and huge
In the social ocean, in the collective deluge.
19th January 2022, Toowong. https://um-mes-alma.com/2022/11/29/me-and-my-memory/
Salma Seclusion 