It’s What We Remember

Anna G. Raman

 

It’s, perhaps, all those ‘was’es that are no more,
all those once-upon-a-times that ended up
in a story, a biography, an autobiography,
history…

pretty much boils down to
what one remembers, or wants to,
like memories, things that we cherish,
treasure, like those five megapixel pictures,
smiling down at us from frames, family albums,
stored for years, on the flash drives
of our minds, these reasons to live

the rest, made of everything meant to be
ex-things we’re running away from,
things decided to be forgotten,
with some uncertainty,
sent to the recycle-bin-corners of our minds,
their unpleasantness purged, like we do a scary virus,
only to be pulled out in times of need,
these reasons for change

these functions of time,
for those of us who can remember,
for those who cannot, it’s like a movie,
in someone else’s mind,
we’re sure we never made
or were a part of.

perhaps, it’s a birth, a demise,
a legend, a life.

 

Anna G. Raman's work has appeared in The Stillwater Review, Whirlwind Magazine, Kalyani Magazine, River Poets Journal, The DuPage Valley Review, Sparkbright, and other places online and in print. Her poems have also appeared as part of anthologies such as River Poems published by Lilly Press, and Poems on Ivy Leaves published by the NJ Poetry Society.