afterwards

scientists say

matter

or energy

cannot be created or destroyed

only conserved

or changed

is there a physics

a chemistry of memory

a weight or worth

to some spiritual commodity

when remembered

but when it’s

irretrievable

unknown

forgotten by all

is it nothing then

or matter stored for another time

is there more of it

after sharing

can it change in the telling

the turn of the tale

after words

does memory matter

waiting to be retrieved

there in the soil

beneath the stone and grass

Barry DeCarli

September 23, 2016

On Hammond Pond

©Barry DeCarli

mad cow*

sometimes

I keep my keys

in cold storage

next to the milk

and juice

hardly imagining

that the battery will

last longer

at 40 degrees

it is harder

to remember them

there

though I always know

where they are

when I look for something

to drink

eventually

it won’t matter

where my keys are

after the first time I go

to the store

and don’t come back

on my own…

Barry DeCarli

May 6, 2016

On Hammond Pond

©2016 Barry DeCarli

*“mad cow” is a reference to the

Denny Crane character on Boston Legal

http://www.italyiswaitingforyou-getgoing.com/

lost message

the scarcity of time becomes

too much to waste.

still the pain lasts

and grows

as cells turn too brittle

too emaciated to hold a good memory.

no wonder we miss the sign

pulsing against our eyelids.

the message we won’t accept

takes too much time to get through:

some forgetful god is unable to shape an answer other than

no.

Barry DeCarli

May 19, 2010 & September 18, 2015

On Hammond Pond

©2015 Barry DeCarli