Fool's Gold
Prompt: "So I’d love you to think about places which are special to you for any
reason, and bring them to life for us in whatever way you choose, in
poetry or prose."
I believe you, Mr. Wolfe,
“You can’t go home again.”
Why would I ever try?
Places don’t stay put
any more than people do.
They stray,
as restless to leave town
as anyone there.
Memory fools.
We were
swimming pools and hot asphalt,
stuck in amber summers,
tar melting in the cracks
of the Avenue,
scorching bare feet.
We were
football games and dry leaves
burning in gutters,
stolen kisses
under the bleachers,
blushing.
We were
laugh-filled hallways and crushes,
caught in frozen-moment
snow globes.
Glistening.
Glittering.
But…
all that glittered was never gold.
As I said,
Memory fools.
©2021 Lisa Smith Nelson. All Rights Reserved
I completely agree. Memories are very good at polishing deeds and feels, at reshaping things until they fit better. Who we used to be has changed. So even if we were able to go back, we wouldn't see what was in the same way.
ReplyDeleteLove the imagery.
Thank you. I'm afraid that if we go back (physically) we'd be sorely disappointed, and we'd realize our memories were tainted all along.
DeleteGood tight images...the best kind.
ReplyDeleteThank you. :)
DeleteIt's true you can't go back. The past exists in your memory, never to be repeated in the present, sad to say.
ReplyDeleteIf I could go back in time, I wouldn't. I've asked myself that, and decided I don't want to relive a lot of things again.
DeleteMemory fools. I just wrote one on the same subject today (not up yet). Could listen to Thomas Wolfe all day BTW.
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw "Memory fools" written alone, I wondered, did I mean memory fools us, or we are fools to remember, fools to memory? I could say I meant it both ways!
DeleteHmmm, but you just did go back! And took us with you. I agree that it's all impossible to recapture 'in the flesh' so to speak, but in our minds we always can.
ReplyDeleteYes, and in our minds it's always better than it really was.
DeleteTimes when we utterly satisfied are rarely repeated but how the memories are recalled to remind one of how happy you have been.
ReplyDeleteRare are those times of utter satisfaction! My first reaction to your comment was, "You have been utterly satisfied?" :)
DeleteBingo. So good.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI love the way you captured that feeling you get when you go back to a place and it’s not the way you remember it, and ‘memory fools’ is the perfect name for it. That’s why I haven’t been back to the town where I grew up, not since my mother’s funeral, I just visit in my mind. I love the idea that
ReplyDelete‘Places don’t stay put
any more than people do.
They stray,
as restless to leave town
as anyone there.’
Going back might ruin those memories. I haven't been back to CA since I moved to Oregon 10 years ago. And I wouldn't want to go past the house where I grew up, it's hard enough to see online how the owner changed it! I shouldn't look there either.
DeleteI love that repeated "we were" to emphasize the distance between past and present. I can't say I had the greatest memories of high school though, so it's a bit of a comfort to think that inverse might be true... all that stinks isn't poo.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, not all gold or poo! I remember the good times from school, but what I wrote is just poetic license! No snow, no autumn leaves or football and bleacher kisses! Crushes I remember. Not such good memories then!
DeleteWe were ..... we were. This brought back a plethora of memories ... good and not good. Love the places you took us.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I like the places I took myself too! The fantasy small town high school days, not mine.
Delete