The Zero Suite (8)

Last night the heat got


So extreme
we dragged our mattress
into the living room
under the heat pump
turned to maximum cold

even that didn’t work
because the cat
confused by the new arrangements
meowed all night
and kept us up

my mother’s memory
is quite defective
ever since the event of 0-12
‘a migraine’
said her doctors

the aphasia did wear off
but now she can’t
kickstart her memory
she often gets it if reminded
but seldom admits to knowing anything

it’s hard to explain what it’s like
she tells us
I believe her
what can it feel like
to wander in a haze

making decisions you go back on
five minutes later
no longer knowing
who your childhood stories
happened to?

perhaps it’s like
these humid nights
wrapped in a sweatsheet
unable to bear the covers
ticking away the time

in shapeless fog?


(28/1/16-7/5/17)

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