I Can’t Memorize These Words

I’m always impressed
By the poets who stand and recite all their words
They don’t look at notes
Or wear secret head sets
They just remember which word
They put before the next
And after the last
Long torrents of words
Found exactly where they last left them

Not me
I can’t memorize these words
They come out of me
I remember writing them down
Moving them around
Trying out their sounds
But a day or a week later
I have a vague sense of what the piece was about
I remember the tone
But the exact word choices
And the sequences escape me
It is easier most times
To rap off some new composition
Than to recite the words in exact position
The same as I put them down before

I can’t memorize these words
Not even the ones you just heard.
So enjoy them
They may not come around again.

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Echoes:

Poem and Collage, Eyes Like Bicycle Wheels, by Jay Larsen