I Am (Amnesia)

I can’t quite capture it –

just beyond the curling page,

finger-worn and jelly-smeared

Beyond to the telling lines

which some thoughtless imbecile

tore out to tack upon the wall

Stolen in a gust through the fluttering-curtain window -

it winks, then scatters

from prism-like walls –

it beckons, then hides

I squint determined eyes to catch the image

and hold it in my retina for observation …

but it vanishes too quickly to control

I reach again and again

and grasp so tightly

that it squirts between my fingers

and drips in pulpy mass upon my knee

Beyond, far beyond –

it drips in rhythmic heartbeat sound

into the aluminum sinkwell

then dribbles down the drain

In secrecy and silence it seeps into my brain

circulating haunting illusion

swirling round and round

and round again

“Can you see me,” it laughs?

“Can you feel me,” it jeers?

“Don’t you know me?”

and it’s gone again

to peer at me from undiscovered corners

and dusty stovepipes

To taunt and taunt,

But never to reveal