Seize Memory

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You will remember
You will be struck with remembering tonight
When I first spoke of my death

When you need this moment
Will return to you discrete
Unaffiliated with my legend
And in your moment of remembering
We will be mourners together

We have conceived an unstoppable sharing
You will be able to pull this out of your hat
Out of your assets
Out of the spin of pursuits behind you

(I was the May Queen adorned with streamers
And a crown of flowers white like my dotted Swiss gown
The revelers startled me with their indifference
I expected to be more
Than an epicenter for their choreography)

Now you call me to your bed
To brush lightening from your eyes and banish thunder
Inconsolable    Fall asleep    Fall fast
And the day will come like a moth unwinding

“Seize Memory” appeared in Rye Bread: Women Poets Rising 1977