i forget

 

i forget that birth is a placebo

bowls suspended in watery song

as if god forgot to pray

i am the need of god

and the face of indigent grace

 

i manoeuvred my way into the limping crowd

their eyes, ovals in a soupbowl

disconnected instead of gall

i forgot that i was alone

in crowds one is rarely discovered

and i meant to be found

 

i saw a woman once

on the side of the street

her head an indent in the sidewalk

she looked up intermittently

forgetting she was hidden

 

i wait for the will to straighten my hands

but my fingers stall in their clatter

and i forget i am writing