Saturday, March 9, 2013

Mnemosyne


I remember her saying 

As long as you ask for me, 
I’ll be here forever 
But I forgot to ask her 

How long ago that was. 

4 comments:

  1. yes in:deed
    It is what we
    what we remember
    what we imagine
    that
    tends to become real

    as she, long ago, said:
    "the worst reply is silence.'

    the mind-stuff of memories/dreams
    is what we write and draw about ?



    ReplyDelete
  2. This is a poem the great goddess will never have to tie a string around her finger to keep from forgetting.

    She is so powerful that her spell continually causes mortals all sorts of subtle annoyance.

    When Nabokov wrote his great memoir of his early life, he submitted it to his English publisher as Speak, Mnemosyne. The publisher rejected this title as too arcane. He changed the title then to Speak, Memory.

    But of course she will neither forget nor forgive this linguistic betrayal. Forgiving and forgetting are not among her powers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The trouble with the string about the finger - one day you wonder what that threads doing there on your pinkie cutting off the circulation.

    But i forgot to ask her

    How long ago that was.

    A wonderfully forlorn distance here.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for stopping by, guys. Suffice to say this subject i.e., mnemosyne—which I touch on briefly here—has been covered extensively by poets/writers everywhere but I have to admit
    a Hellenistic bias—and debt—towards Cavafy and Seferis, both masters at presenting the erosion of it.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...