Reminded That I Am - 1. Chapter 1

Reminded That I Am

by Bryan Harrison

I can still recall your face.
I even have a piece of that look you gave me
the time I tried the macho pose
on the edge of the bed.
Or was it when we went to the arboretum
and I used my fake british accent on the boys by the pond?

I carry it around everywhere
and somehow it never gets frayed
or creased in that ‘carried in the pocket' sort of way.

I prefer it to the withered
and comatose eyes
with which you left me.
Or the barrier of sadistic machinery
that hopelessly imposed life on you.

When I look at it
I am reduced at once to a lonely
little boy, juxtaposed with solitude
against a faded asphalt mat.

And then somehow renewed
and reminded that I am
someone who was once loved by you.