What Memory Isn't

memory is

like a blade in a candy 

like a fossil in resin 

like a virus in an iceberg 

is frozen and harmless

just unless it gets warmer

how are you

who are you

how can you live

with phantoms of things

-a flash-

that might never have happened

what have you done

with what's left

of your past

-i am cutting my tongue-

what did i do to you

and how can i justify

what i don't recall committing

how can i live

with your shadow

in the bottom right angle

of the only good picture of me

-crackling-

-crackling-

it doesn't get washed away

memory is nothing like water

it stills in your bones

you cannot move and i'm stoned

you are coughing

it's getting hotter.