memory loss, a poem by Veronica Eley

memory loss

my memory
fades
in degrees
like
a stone
skipping backwards
over a pond
a migration
of Canada geese
in reverse
a nameless child

I wander
from room
to room
losing objects
as I go

layers
of memory loss
like the crust
of the earth
the erosion
of a
river bank
a rainforest
in distress

I reconstruct
the past
putting on
protective lenses
to avoid
sharp
flying objects

pieces
reconstructed
by medication
bipolar disease
who am I?
the past?
the present?

memory loss is a wonderful poem from The Blue dragonfly, healing through poetry, a recently published poetry collection by 71-year-old first-time author, Veronica Eley, of Dartmouth. Like all other poems in the book memory loss is inspired by experiences encountered when re-living and thinking through traumatic events that took place mostly in Nova Scotia.  

From the afterword: “Veronica Eley attended no workshops, never imagined herself a poet, is hesitant to think so even now. She wrote her “poetic diary” as a task assigned to her by psychological necessity.” 

I just started reading some of these poems, but I am already hooked and look forward to spending much more time with this collection.

The Blue dragonfly, healing through poetry is published by Hidden Brook Press.