Friday, June 12, 2020

MEMORY IS A SKILL

Perhaps the sparrows
sitting up on the sagging 
wires above us

are neither praising 
nor blaming the day; 

maybe they 
keep making noises 
which are incomprehensible to us

because 
we keep expecting 

criticism.

*

For me, it's fun to talk 
about the weather 
with a neighbor

the way it's fun to play a game 
of Simon:

every contestant 
down here 
is in a fierce competition  

to put abstractions 
such as 2 and 2 
together—

just like every 
brutalized animal's 

pleasure center 
is still a sucker 

for a little pattern 
recognition.