memorial hall (september, 2011)

a wall
take a name
transfer the sound and person
to a scratching on paper
and fold it into your pocket

one, two, three steps up
that column, no. just to the right
four or fourscore down
near the bottom, between some longer lists
and it's there
in the safety of distance
far from the unknown others.
take it.

unfold that penstain
into a space
that's a first thought
give that name a life:
birth to a mother and presumably a father
some formative years
probably motivation
choose from:
duty, love, fear
or all of the above.
give that name a life:
fill up those hours
with the hum of a happening.
give that haunting a ghost

the wish of a whisper
hides under the calling of a name
that has forgotten who its person is
while it scratches at the proper nouns
and claws its way out of the substantives

take a name
and unfold it into a person
make the ghost
into a series of memories
and press that paper down
down to your blood and bone
down to your nerves and neurons
down to your syntax and soul

maybe you're the same, after all