Memories make us
Memories make us
Their loss brings death
In life
Nobody wants that
Tolerance levels are lower
For the incontinent incompetent
Struggling for recall
Plucking memories out of a fruit bowl
Throwing them away,
Slipping on a banana skin
How do you like those apples?
The bicycle sheds were soaked
In testosterone
The smell of adolescent emissions
Tobacco and dirty stories
Failing to get a punchline
Refusing to be a punchbag
Winning a fight, fight, fight
When you didn’t want to do it
In the first place
The first kiss
On the spin of a bottle
Blushing right down to the ground
Touching teeth
Promising to learn
How to do it properly
Never being given another chance
By her
Forgetting her name.
Learning to dance
Like a wallflower.
The first girl to say “no”
Walking away feeling two feet tall
Promising never to mistake no for yes.
Learning never to break a promise
Especially to a child.
The best advice is to never make one.
Children never forget
But they do forgive.
Treat everybody with respect
Even the people you dislike
It will reap dividends,
In the end,
People will remember
You as an honest broker.
The first kiss
Whilst sitting in a Ford Fiesta
When the brush of her lips
Was electrifying.
Direct current is unbreakable
Unless you switch it off
The smell of her neck
The small of her back.
The view across from Bamburgh
To Lindisfarne
Seahouses in the rain
The way a Grey Seal looks
At you
When you come face to face
And for some reason, you apologise
For the culling
When you would never do it.
Ever.
Failing to kill a fish when
As a kid, you caught one
Throwing it back
Hoping it would survive
Vowing never to go fishing again
And realising you would starve
In the event of a real apocalypse
When the only apocalyptic thing
We ever truly face
Is to lose the people we love
And then,
Worse still,
To forget them.