It's Still Life

The Reappearance of Errant Articles

I’m rewriting a grocery list
on a piece of paper.
I fold it.
Misplace it.
Rewrite it.

      Milk
      Eggs
      Rubbishy veg for soup

Seems there’s a river flowing
through me that washes my
memory away – not forever,
as if like wind, but just a meek
smallish river that cycles back
into rain, and returns.

And I reach into the pocket
of my apron, and there’s
the original list. I assume
that this apron is where
my errant memories go.

As for the apron, I don’t know
where it came from, and I can’t
remember buying it, and I can’t
recall it was a gift, so hey-ho.

Maybe that river gave it to me for
those memories I still have left.

Written for 21 August Miz Quickly’s Wearables A Sīmurgh and an army of birds attacks the spirit of the ocean, an illustration from Anvār-i Suhaylī or Lights of Canopus (ca. 1847), a Persian version of an ancient Indian collection of animal fables called the Panchatantra.⁠ Shared with @Miz_Quickly and @Experimentsinfc #APoemADay on Twitter ©Misky 2021