Memory Poem by Edward Clapham

I am my memory.
This piece of the world, this brief sprouting
Amongst many thinking radishes,
Exists only as resonances within
Lacy neurons; Flanders' delicate patterns
Sustained by glial skeletons,
Beyond the spider's web or silent
Snowflake in elegant complexity.

I am memory:
Identity, selfness, the compass of my person,
Aware of the universe's unknowingness
Of my reedlike form; yet I know I exist,
And know of my fate,
And of the fate of the universe,
Which is the power of my memory
And humankind's collective memory.

I am:
And therefore recreated endlessly by my memories which,
Shallow-like, bow to my insecurities
Played out in my mind; ironically,
Feeding my own undermining,
Poignant recall of joy and bittersweet sorrow,
Given force by visceral emotion, shaping "I"
Anew, through endless rehearsal.

I:
Who is; only in relation to you, another,
My child, parent, brother, sister, a lover,
Bosom friend, like me, the sum
Of memories, which we share
And are thus part of each other,
All one, yet separate, connected
Through memory.




The memories of you fade,
Yet do not disappear, and
Give truth to my thoughts
On memory, and my identity;
Me, whom you pursued until
I caught you, and gave
Me memories happy and sad,
That linger still.