Forgetting Charm
Even your bones remember what you’ve long discarded.
This field of stone grows beyond sight.
In our house the tang of burnt sugars.
You say I love you in four languages I do not speak,
but never in the one I claim.
We light fires with stolen paper.
Douse them with stored rain.
Fragmented memories fill our cupboards.
Did I once know you?
Take these words from me.
Bury them in daylight.
* * *
“Forgetting Charm” was published in The Icarus Anthology in August 2017.
Music: “Crypto” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
O at the Edges 
It’s beautiful!
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Thank you very much, Justine.
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A great poem Robert! I love the line, “You say I love you in four languages I do not speak,
but never in the one I claim.” The pieces of memory stored in you cupboard is a nice touch!
dwight
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Thanks, Dwight. That cupboard is never bare!
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Perfect sentences; this would make a great palindrome.
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Now that’s something to consider. Thanks, Mary!
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“Bury them (words) in daylight” is a most enticing phrase!
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It often seems like the most natural response. 🙂
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Some strong lines in here Bob. The music in the background gives an ambiguous context, like in the film Burn After Reading, where there will be really intense music as if something big is just around the corner of the scene or even next shot, but the character is just making a sandwich & that is all that happens; there is this sort of jarring of contexts in tension with each other, which creates an interesting aesthetic, like the music gives the mundane importance.
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I liked the almost ominous drive of the music. It’s interesting how the music affects the reading of the poem.
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Music really is a mood setter. Burn after reading, as i mentioned really brings that to light, as does pretty much the putting of music to anything.
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I’ve been paying more attention lately to background music on the various shows I catch on radio. Some of it seems to be nothing more than background, but some of it definitely targets emotional responses. There’s much to think about…
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i miss radio. The BBC has some great stuff, i listened to it all the time in England. But can’t get it in Korea. i listen to podcasts, which are good, but not quite the same as just having the radio humming in the background.
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There’s a lot of fascinating stuff out there. I mostly listen to radio while driving, and I’ve spent so many hours on the road over the past three months that I’ve absorbed a good sampling.
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Love the idea of forgetting charm yet really preserving it
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Thank you, Candice.
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Beautiful, Robert. I was going to mention particular lines, but then it got to be all of them.
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Now I’m blushing, Merril. Thank you!
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🙂
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No failure to communicate
the melancholy of love’s lost fate.
… Well written, and spoken.
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Thanks very much, David.
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Touchingly beautiful Robert, I won’t tell you ….I cried….. you might get sick of me saying hat…..
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Oh, Ivor, that is the greatest compliment you could possibly bestow upon me!
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Played this song at Carole funeral….
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You can’t go wrong with Janis!
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Another favourite! Incredible and wonderfully atmospheric reading! 😍🌹
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Thank you, as always, Arbie.
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Your voice oddly sounded that of like Mr. Bates’ from Downton Abbey!
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Coffee nearly spurted from my nose just now! Ha.
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