Normal Memory Problems
"Transience"
What I carefully, compliantly learned in school?
Gone.
State capitals, times tables— especially
the sevens and eights— gone. Geometry,
algebra, calculus, Norse and Greek and
Roman mythology, how to write a book report,
the periodic table of elements, timelines
of wars and famous men, Manifest Destiny—
gone gone gone
like the Nancy Drew mysteries and Archie comics
in my bookcase, which gave way to absurdist theater
which gave way to 18th century British novels which
gave way to Judaica, psychology, meditation,
eldering, death and dying.
Note to self: Shredding or burning diaries
may increase the likelihood of forgetting.
Remember this.
"Absentmindedness"
Three university lectures in European History II were not encoded in memory, due to the nearness of the boy sitting to my left
"Blocking"
I begin a sentence in which the object of the sentence
is a woman I know, and suddenly her name is
gone, like the blueberry that dropped and rolled
into the little crack where the tiling ends under the
dishwasher, juicy and just out of sight.
Crouching and reaching into the crack
will yield only dry crumbs and sunflower seeds.
Best to let it be, for now.
"Misattribution"
It was a windy day, and the wind lifted the umbrella,
and the little girl holding the umbrella lifted up
off the sidewalk, like Mary Poppins in red rubber boots
and a shiny yellow rain slicker with metal buckles—
and I always felt it was me, but
what if I only just read it
in a story book?
"Persistence of a memory"
Her last breath, in the moment when
I ran to ask a nurse
how to turn off
the harsh fluorescent lighting
Inspired by Forgetfulness — 7 Types of Normal Memory Problems, Harvard Medical School HEALTHbeat newsletter 2/19/2021