Hi, it’s Poetry Night once again. I’ve been busy this month with the imminent release of my book The Yank Striker’s Journey, so poetry hasn’t been on the front-burner of my brain1. But I I do have a couple of offerings for you tonight.
If You’re Interested in my Poetry Here… You Might Want to Check Out Some More
My first collection of poetry is out now.
Since Substack doesn’t quite have the setup for this, I’ve set up something here at Liegois Media. I set up my own Internet storefront page where you can order my chapbook for $6 per copy. This is the link, as is the one below.
As far as poetic inspiration goes, I ended up doing a bit of picking up and rearranging some things I’ve stored for a long time. I mean, some of these items have traveled with me for about twenty years at least and between maybe four different houses. The process inspired at least one poem, which I’ll share with you below2.
Memory Memorials
Fort Madison, Iowa, 28 June 2025
Black plastic mausoleums
Sit ready to entomb
Talismans of memory.
Older resting places
Tearing carboard boxes and dirt-smeared tubs
Disposed for secure memorials.
Letters, trinkets, tickets, and keepsakes
Keys to memories faded or misplaced
Like forgotten jars in the back pantry
And older clothes tucked into the sides of closets.
Talismans tucked away
In hermetically sealed plastic bags and acid-free paper
Then into the black mausoleums stowed on steel shelves
The external hard drives of human memory.
All the thinking about memories, the ones you have and the ones you had, led me to write this related poem below.
Memories Lost
Fort Madison, Iowa, 28 June 2025
Why do memories fade
Other than short circuits and worn wires in the brain
Other than the subconsciousness
Protecting the front of the brain?
Do they get misplaced
Shoved into the back corners of the skull?
Do some memories have shorter life spans than others?
Or does the human hard drive have limited storage
Forced to overwrite older memories for higher priority ones?
It would be good to know
Because finding lost memories
Isn’t as straightforward as finding your phone or house keys.
That’s it for tonight. Hope you’ve had a great June and Pride Month.
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- And I’m sorry I blew through my usual deadline for releasing something today (5 p.m. Central). ↩︎
- There have been more than a few poems I’ve written not intended for publication (at least not immediately). That’s allowed me to be a bit more free with my experimentation and subject matter than the stuff I write with the express intention to share publicly. ↩︎