in these dreams
they come
family friends
in places
so long ago
comforting enough
to resist
awakening
when knowing
only in these dreams
will all of them
be there
memory
your pictures
there must be
a reason
I keep
your pictures
on my shelves
but at times
like these
it eludes
me
still seeing
you
rising
from bed
naked
to get a drink
of water
for my parched
mouth
from loving you
the night
long
footprints
footprints
in the sand
washed away
by the sea
of memory
standing eight
three
to a round
and one more
to go
boxing
with shadows
as memory
pulls
no punches
this night
on country music
didn’t think
a song
could do that
to me
still
but damn
there it is
the memory
oh
the memory
again
remembering LA: for Maureen
you sauntered
into the house
for dinner
where three
slightly hungover
writers lived
and asked
in that off-handed
manner of yours
who do you
have to fuck
to get a drink
around here
and though I can’t
remember
who cooked dinner
or poured your drink
I do know
how my heart
lights up
remembering
empty restaurants
listening to
the ticking
of clocks
in empty restaurants
and thinking of
old lovers
long buried
in memory
Memory by Cai Qijiao
An ice-cold river encircles the log hut
Whose compassionate face is staring toward me.
A tree like an umbrella shields the river
Who with windlike fingers plucks my heartstrings.
You are a bright cloud in my evening sky
While I sing you a poem about sunset.
But your songs are constellations of stars
That go on flickering deep in my soul.
My poem is merely withering leaves
Who in a warm dream laugh at thunderstorms,
But your songs are like the silence of flowers
Whose lasting fragrance scorns authority.
translated by Fang Dai, Dennis Ding, & Edward Morin
lost in memory
the way
you handled
books
as if
they were
sacred objects
you were not
my type
and yet
you were
exactly
what I was
seeking
how did I
misplace you
forever lost
in my memory
Leonard Durso 