Thursday 19 April 2012

Conformity day 19


Conformity.
The inability to speak was his main concern,
except for certain words. Sometimes he dreamt of old ones
not to be said in the familiar places
but these were fantasies he could not shrive.
The car, too, had developed habits of its own
almost driving itself down the familiar roads:
work, aunts, in-laws, it knew the way.
He was sure he remembered other paths
but he laid down, consigning them to dreams.

Then it was easy to forget the maps
that once he had collected, studied the ways.
Now, when he looked for them
his fingers came up black with soil or ash.
Buried or burnt, he was numb to their loss.

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