A58
Collective Memory
Excerpt from novel: A longitudinal case study into motherlessness.

i spent the day

with tears brimming at the surface.
there wasn’t any reason for it, but i felt them waiting.
they didn’t care what brought them out;
they were determined.
what eventually did it was a song
in the grocery store.
i couldn’t remember where i had heard it before,
but i remembered that it once made me happy,
which made me worried about all the happiness i’d forgotten.
the crying was inappropriate for the setting,
so i walked out of the store
still holding my groceries,
dripping tears in a breadcrumb trail to my door,
smearing snot with my sleeve,
holding my stomach in pain.
the relief was confusing and blissful
and it wasn’t until i arrived home that i realized
i’d left without paying.

Samson Manoah