<span style="font-family:Tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:13px;border-collapse:collapse"><p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal">
<span style="font-size:small">A FIFTH MEMORY </span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">Let's not speak of ravens, keyholes at twilight, subjects </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">immediate to observation appearing partly as a doctrine </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">of chance. It is unlike me to dispute what is grand. </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">A cloud field can herald distress, command numbers </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">to fragment, but the rainfall lacked compulsion, how </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">birds listed as unclean were birds of prey, not a model </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">for conduct. Every day began with trust; segments </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">fitted together like small bodies of animals and plants. </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">Arriving home a touch positioned your face upright </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">regardless of industrious wind. Restore me to that </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">then, however streaked with gloom, however riddled </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">through with worm and sorrow. Part of the problem </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">was mandatory participation, the other your radiant </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">neck from certain sadness, half-feelings in August, </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">or the will to walk many-sided. Restore me to a prior </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">arena beyond where this letter fills a hand mildly. There </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">exists no such thing as three beginnings. Earlier gestures </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">were vague in declaring intention, and what the echo </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">from the cliff responds with is a general void, minor </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">modifications in mood like English weather. Restore </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">the song its bird, bird its egg, egg to concept. This world </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">mirrored a wonder formerly praised until we discovered </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">the structure of horror in all inventions. I anticipated </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">otherwise, the arrangement of light on a woodland stream </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">to dazzle; a red fox paused on a hilltop to restore </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">a condition decayed. What could determine the next </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">question? What answer could halt the mind and its written </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">description from an eternity grazing on itself? What answer </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">could relinquish such control or once more bury it </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">in a hole with anything else the animals might claim? </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:small"><br></span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal">
<span style="font-size:small"><br></span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small">NO NEW INFORMATION </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:small"></span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
<span style="letter-spacing:0px">When I hang in the air </span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal">
<br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">it will be by popular </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">demand. There is </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">a contingency of people </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">who think loving me </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">is wrong. I made this </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">for them. I care deeply </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">about our republic </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">but I’m unsure what </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">to do next. I’m lonely. </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">Duh. Even I can learn </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">to endure, but can </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">no longer speak </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">for us. Your anxiety </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">is noted. There is </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">something radically wrong </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">in the letter I left </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">or else Scandinavian. </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">I feel my apartment </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">getting dirty. I make </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">a cup of tea. It is </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">an accomplishment. </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">Later, I’m going </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><br></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">to haunt everything </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px"> </span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-family:Tahoma;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:13px;line-height:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal"><span style="letter-spacing:0px">in this room. </span></p>
</span><p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal">
<font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal">
<span style="font-size:small"><br></span></p><p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><span style="font-size:small"> </span></font><span style="font-size:small"></span></p>
<p style="margin:0px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal"><font><font><span style="font-size:small"><b>Brett Fletcher Lauer</b> is the Managing Director of the Poetry Society of America and a Poetry Editor at <i>A Public Space</i>. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in <i>American Poetry Review</i>, <i>Boston Review</i>, <i>Tin House</i>, and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.</span></font></font></p>
<br clear="all"><br>-- <br>RealPoetik<br><a href="http://realpoetik.blogspot.com" target="_blank">realpoetik.blogspot.com</a><br>