How long does something stay in the mind?

A ridiculous amount of time

It seems

Cobwebs woven across neurons

Catch my softened eyelids

Jerking me into a memory laid down

Years ago

A skin I no longer own

I guess it used to be

But now?

Meaningless

Like

Thumbing through clothes

That used to fit

Garish colours

A regretted taste

Nothing I would choose now

Disgust ripples across viscera

Puckers the edges of my mouth

Why can’t old memories simply be thrown out?

Emotional holding patterns written in the ether

Something I would rather tip

Into a garbage can

Double deleted

Gone

Rather than this futile kind of

Haunting of the mind

Unwinding

Behind shaded sunglasses

My companion none the wiser

For the curdling of the moment

Sour droplets spatter my inner lens

I clean them off with the hem of my tshirt

And attend to the present moment

Carefully

As best I can

It’s all we can do you hear

Reaching backwards in time

Is not a thing

Only the mind clings

To shadows that have already been

The world tumbles forwards

And our feet must walk it

For action is the only force that causes

Reality’s gauntlet

To cease slapping us in the face

Moment to moment