What Evolution Has Wrought

or

Narcissism and Poetry:

Two Peas in a Human Pod

Whenever I find that I have forgotten

something I wanted to remember,

forgotten something I wanted to do,

I must first decide—

without knowing in the present moment

exactly what it is I have forgotten—

how important it might be to remember

whatever it is that has gotten away from me,

and if I decide that the thing I can’t remember

merits remembering, then I must think back

to the moment I became aware

that I had forgotten whatever it is I wished

to remember or do, and continue to explore

each moment preceding that moment

until I arrive at the point and the place

when I was last aware of whatever

it was that I do not remember now.

I hope that having arrived there

the recovered memory

will turn out to be worth the effort.