DISPATCHES FROM THE MEMORY CARE MUSEUM

by Mary K O'Melveny


What did we know
and when did we know it?
                                                           

Imagine all the metal
cabinets of a mind
filled with fragments
of missing hours and days.
Each locked away from visitors –
a dull gemstone that might
still glow in certain light,
a furred paw, some browned
teeth, a catfish carcass,
trading beads that sealed
some ancient land deal,
baskets of braided
sweetgrass, an ink drawing
of a long extinct bird,
soft rustle of feathers
almost audible, a map
of ancient alleyways,
an abacus, a rusted hourglass.

Someone misplaced the keys.
We open a new drawer.


* * * * *

"Dispatches from the Memory Care Museum" was previously published by Aji Magazine (Spring 2021) and is part of Mary K O'Melveny's new poetry collection Dispatches from the Memory Care Museum (Kelsay Books 2021)

Mary K O’Melveny (www.marykomelvenypoet.com) lives with her wife in Woodstock NY and Washington DC. A Pushcart Prize nominee and award recipient in national and international poetry contests, including Slippery Elm Literary Journal Poetry Competition, The Pangaea Prize (The Poet’s Billow), Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Competition, Writer’s Digest Annual Poetry Competition, Anthology Magazine Poetry Prize, Mary’s poetry appears in many literary journals, anthologies, national blog sites such as Writing In A Woman’s Voice and in three collections: A Woman of a Certain Age, Merging Star Hypotheses  (Finishing Line Press 2018, 2020), Dispatches From the Memory Care Museum (Kelsay Books 2021).