Memories Are Monotonous Poem by gershon hepner

Memories, like botany,
while good for the ecology
if uttered with monotony
require an apology.

When taken out like aspidistras
they show up the dry rot in us,
decaying like an aging mistress
whose methods are monotonous.


Richard Bernstein, in 'Napoleon Complex: The Scent of Exile, ' in the NYT, September 15,1999, quotes Jean-Paul Kaufmann's book about Napoleon's exile in St. Helena, 'The Black Room At Longwood: Napoleon's Exile on St. Helena' (Four Walls Eight Windows) :

You can smell melancholy at the Exiles' Club. It's something damp and languid, the heady odor of mildew, the acrid taste of dust, which indicate a fixation with the past, the monotony of memories, neglect, idleness. Death.'

9/15/99