A Manner Of Forgetting... Poem by RIC BASTASA

there is an injustice
which exists like a pea in my soft bed
and i am so sensitive,

to get rid of the pain
i must learn to forget

to learn forgetting
i must devote myself to some other things

read on a case and absorb the justifications
of the characters

killing without guilt and stealing without
the force

to know how to conceal
and pretend that nothing really happened

to move around just like anyone else
in the park and in the mall

to fly a kite to let the balloons go
to see the baboons in the the zoo

to write a letter that you do not send
to write another story, another poem

to be lost in the woods, to be lost in our words,
to find a lost coin, to refurnish a room

to gather the petals of the sunflower
and say, i love you i love you not

to go to my own place, outside the house
under the sun, sipping a cold orange juice

to sleep alone, and then dream
to recall those dreams and give them meanings.