Memory Vultures

Poem of the Day:
"I Remember" by Ciarán Carson
On The Night Watch


Carson's poem focuses on memory, and the circling, self-validating nature of remembering. He writes, "I remember/you wore/a sprig/of eyebright/when first I/met you" (lines 1-6), quickly seating the poem in the realm of memory with past action ("met") and sequencing prepositions ("first"). Then, begins the circuitous voice. The word "remember" begins the poem, strikes it in the middle, and ends the piece: "remember when/at close/of day/I asked you/what it was/& you said/eyebright something/to remember/me by" (lines 7-15). Also, "eyebright" appears again, now having come full circle from the speaker's association, to the subject's association ("something/to remember/me by").

I have been extremely stressed lately. The future is looming -- the future after college. It's a wide vast field, but also maybe a pit. What do I fill it with? What do I plant? And, will anything grow?

I suppose one fills a 'pit of the future' with the seeds of the past. Eh, cliché? Maybe. But all clichés are just overtruths. And Carson's poem comes at a time when I'm mining memories and cultivating, or least trying to, a future.


Sincerely,
A Poem A Day Audrey

P.S. Carson is Irish and I studied him last semester. More memories for ya -- well, for me.