Day 17 - I'm Getting The Hang Of This Routine

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I really think I am. Getting the routine, I mean. I'll probably have it down pat by day thirty.

Another free-form poem—to counter-balance the title, of course.

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Of All Things

Of all the things
That make up a person,
Memories are the hardest for me to understand.

Not how memories saved within my brain
Or how they are recalled,
But which ones seem to come back so easily.

Why is it
That I can remember the exact smell
Of my grandmother's kitchen?

The toast,
The eggs fried in lard,
The blackberry jam she always had on the table

Are as fresh and clear
Today
As they were a half-century ago.

Why are the fragrances of fishing
Along the bay's backwaters
As pungent as it was when I was a child?

The brackish water,
The small white perch,
The breeze from the reed-covered shore

Are still so strong
Today
I can almost will myself backwards in time.

These aromas, and many others
Are locked into my subconscious,
Ready to erupt at the slightest prodding.

Nothing important happened
During those times,
There was no historical event

That occurred,
No milestone
Reached,

Except,
Perhaps,
That I was truly alive.


                      K.R. Smith

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*I'm trying to write a poem each day for National Poetry Month. It's difficult to come up with original titles (that are interesting) for each post. I chose silly instead.

 Here are the links to the poems so far:

   Day 1 National Poetry Month - Kick-off (National Poetry Month)
   Day 2 Haiku, For You (Haiku)
   Day 3 A Poem For Free (The Good Morning Man)
   Day 4 Wait, There's Even More (Monday)
   Day 5 I'm Still Alive (TMI)
   Day 6 I'm Resorting To Tricks (A Walk Through Kipling's Wood)
   Day 7 It Almost Like Poetry Heaven (Metal Monsters)
   Day 8 I've Got A Lot On My Plate (The Ides Of April)
   Day 9 Another Poem Would Be Fine (Storm Spirit)
   Day 10 I'm At It Again (What A Tree Is Not)
   Day 11 Yes, Number Eleven (A U-Turn For The Worse)
   Day 12 I Feel Like One Of Santa's Elves (Avoiding The Plague Like The Plague)
   Day 13 By The Poetry Machine (Sounds Of A Spring Night)
   Day 14 Rhymes With Thirteen (Bluebells)
   Day 15 I'm Just Being Mean (No Poem Today)
   Day 16 And I'm Full Of Beans (Steel Circles)

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