Why do certain memories abide?
And remain with me, clear in plain sight.
Like the cat almost lost,
Impossibly found under a bush,
Cowering & cold in the night.

What is the essence of recall?
The ancient past brought suddenly to mind.
Unearthing the memory,
displacing the soil.
Lift the lid, and peering inside…

How is it that some memories remain?
Whilst others slip from our grasp.
Appearing for mere moments,
awash in the static.
Tune the radio dial to the past.

Marlbourough. Olivia. Martinez. Bel Azur.
Decades-gone distant destinations I recall,
like rusty old number plates,
of cars my dad owned,
Line up like old soldiers for roll-call.

Why are these memories still in me?
Lodged like a recalcitrant stone in the shoe.
In sticking them down here on paper,
They bind me together like a glue.