WHO CAN'T REMEMBER WHO

My head's throbbing because
I haven't eaten today or
because I'm not getting enough fluids

or maybe just because I've spent
the last hour talking to someone
I'd given up, their dossier & all personal
stats deemed of no further use.

Try spending 60 minutes talking
old times you don't remember
& you'll know the kind of headache
I'm talking about: sure, it feels good

to be remembered but sooner or later
you have to get it all straightened out,
past & present, present & past,

or you risk ending up like one of those
soap opera amnesia cases
who can never remember who
they're supposed to love or why

& has to decide which life
is most worth living: the one you can't remember
or the one that isn't yours.

all poems from the chapbook HELLBENT
from Lazy Frog Press bullpen@lazyfrogpress.com