Tag: Amnesia

#PoeticAnswers 93 – Would You Memorise This Poem If Your True Love’s Life Depended On It?

If it meant that
Every word I had to say
Was another pulse of your
Heartbeat then I would talk until
My lungs gave out and my voice box breaks
Until all I can do is whisper a prayer on repeat
Because the only way I could let you die is if words themselves ran out.

If I had to
Memorise a poem to
Keep you safe and warm
Then I would write the most
Simple, precious and beautiful poem
With the most precious and beautiful words I know on repeat;
Your name.

Question from Michael Clark from Facebook

#PoeticAnswers 48 – Why Don’t You Have Any Pictures On Your Phone?

If memories were as easy to
Delete as the photographs on my phone,
I probably wouldn’t be happy.
Losing the past becomes as
Horrifically easy as
Just an uncoordinated finger.

New Age amnesia
Has become my downfall
Dyspraxia and tremors
Leave me shaking with anger
As precious memories
Of concerts, friends and my dog
Disappear into the digital aether.

Technology is supposed to make things easier,
An extension of ourselves
Keeping the memories that overflow
In a safe space.
But time and time again, my phone has
Proved it is just as fucked up and broken as me.

Or on the rare occasion that
An android update has not annihilated my fragile memory,
I have only myself and Google to blame.
The delete icon next to the upload icon
Without an option to cancel
Feels like a challenge for my broken hands.

I can feel your criticism already,
Why didn’t you back them up,
Why didn’t you set it up automatically?
It was, but because my phone is me,
It was too much and caused frequent crashes.
Now, my phone has as much memories as I do.
And the moral of the story is
Fuck Android.

This question and poem come are based on an early draft of a poem called “Digital Amnesia”