Elsewhere Ghost.

I see you by the kitchen sink 

smoking a cigarette 

one hand holding an elbow 

looking at me. 

You are moaning 

about a woman you met 

down the road 

who said something 

which annoyed you. 

I sit smoking 

having taken off 

my work boots. 

A mug of tea 

is on the table 

beside me. 

I find it hard to focus 

on small talk 

but I give the impression 

of listening. 

There is something 

about a memory. 

It is often incomplete 

so we add bits to it 

to make it appear 

as we think it went. 

You are no longer there. 

Half a century 

has passed since then. 

The room is somewhere 

else now. 

You are in my memory

 a captured ghost

 wandering rooms 

no longer there. 

You are no longer here. 

Maybe a ghost 

elsewhere.

Reviews

[Vol]

Terry,
Powerful use of a universal though seldom captured experience. Skillfully drawn, sir! At my age, memories tumble around like they are in a rock polisher... hmmm, actually, I guess they are! The longer I have them, the fewer the details and the shinier the scene. I often feel like a ghost when I take the time to close my eyes and travel back.
And you have done such an excellent job of distilling the whole subject till it must be one hundred proof.
Vol

[Terry Collett]

Thank you, Vol

[John the Baptist]

This one skillfully captures the way human memory captures the past and holds it hostage through the years. Actually, we are all hostages of our individual pasts until we learn to dwell in the present.

[Terry Collett]

Thank you, John.