In the Future
that will know

nothing of me
except this poem
& a few traces of me

a guide
will show you

my first kiss
& how it continues

to exist

although the place
& its participants

no longer exist.

A striking example
of the phenomenon of

the persistence of
Memory.

A guidebook
will inform you

& direct you to
the places where I cried

here here & here.

“He sure cried a lot! ”
a future tourist will observe

& take a single snapshot
of a solitary tear

preserved in aspic.

“Why did he cry? ”
a future child will ask.

But this fact will be
forgot...then...

“Here is a glass jar
of his actual laughter.

The reason is not now
known.

Here is a glass phial
of his lasts breath.

There is an audible gasp of
“Is it? ”

But it is obviously
faked.

“Is that it? ”
a pain in the neck complains
“Is that all there is? ”
with a plethora of cameras
hung around his neck.

“Jesus...poets don’t
leave much

to remember them by! ”

“They sure make lousy
museum pieces! ”


From my Past
I smile.

*******

Dearest One...this one was a bit too big to get on a postcard!

Apparently someone took a phial of Edison's last breath. Like why? The guy is dying and that's all ya can think of doing for a dying guy! Also apparently it still exists in some museum somewhere! Makes me gasp!

Dónall Dempsey

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/from-my-past-i-smile-for-onelia/