Forgetfulness

The name of the author is the first to go—
followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion,
the entire novel, which suddenly becomes one
you have never read, never even heard of,
It is as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.

Long ago, you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye
and you watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now, as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away:
a state flower, perhaps,
the address of an uncle,
the capital of Paraguay.

Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue,
not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river,
whose name begins with an 'L', as far as you can recall,
well on your own way to oblivion,
where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim
and how to ride a bicycle.

No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.

No wonder the moon in the window
seems to have drifted out of a love poem
that you used to know by heart.

Drummers

Johannes Björk
Magnus Börjeson
Marcus Haraldson
Fredrik Myhr
Sanna Persson
Anders Vestergard
Barbro Gustafson Löfgren
Zerby Thor
Anders Jansson