truth

I have learned to skip
    a breath
Over the grate at the bottom
Station step
To cork the strangling stench of stale urine
From coating my sinuses

When they build up an empire
step over stone, I climb
Counting that clouds will not cover the ground, that my tower will not
Crumble, tip and tumble
My airplanes
My trains and ships and trucked automobiles
My wiggling teeth my
Yellow skies
Will take me where I need to go, they will fill my head
    with perfume fancies fumble

How unfaithful are our memories
They forget
    us
They go out on an errand
Leaving no note

I remember loose teeth
    squelching excitement
Airplanes in peach skies
How the Eastest World was
    to me
One woman, blue silk on the balcony, combing her hair
Knowing her reflection
    Her laugh
How may latitudes away she stood
    from me
Behind the light and quiet curtain
The sleeping air
One moment
Will return on a commando blink

When technology fails
When the words
    trail
    away
When I know the curtain is between me
    light and quiet
How can I trust myself not
to forget?

We do not remember
    that we do not
Remember
There is only knowing that there must be something of
Which we have forgot

Then the enveloping ghosts
Crash in crescendos over from behind
And I know them, they let themselves
    be seen
Be heard with cries of recognition
Before settling
    once more
Into the downy cushioned corners of remembering.