I Almost Remember
I Almost Remember - meaning Summary
Memory Against Harsh Reality
The poem tracks a fragile recollection of past joy that keeps slipping away. The speaker tries to summon an old smile and laugh but is confronted by contemporary scenes of hunger, racialized hands, and social neglect that erase or darken personal memory. Images of night and a quiet garden frame a return to a small, uncertain remembrance. The poem contrasts intimate, fading happiness with the harsh, persistent realities that erode it.
Read Complete AnalysesI almost remember smiling some years past even combing the ceiling with the teeth of a laugh (longer ago than the smile). Open night news-eyed I watch channels of hunger written on children's faces bursting bellies balloon in the air of my day room. There was a smile, I recall now jelled in a never yester glow. Even a laugh that tickled the tits of heaven (older than the smile). In graphs, afraid, I see the black brown hands and white thin yellowed fingers Slip slipping from the ledge of life. Forgotten by all but hatred. Ignored by all but disdain. On late evenings when quiet inhabits my garden when grass sleeps and streets are only paths for silent mist I seem to remember Smiling.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.