#memento
My blankie from my past,
I wonder how long it'll last.
To this day, it lies on my bed,
Awaiting to be nuzzled against my head.
It may be cliché, childish, or vain,
But that simple blankie has seen me through pain.
An anchor, a constant,
A reminder of things I can't remember,
An emotional reactant,
And a source of comfort in December.
I'll keep it until it fades,
I'll cherish it 'til it decays.
Its meaning will never waver,
Perhaps, I'll make it last forever.
In truth, it's not just a blankie,
It's a part of me,
As silly as that may seem.
Dec 13, 2025
Dec 13, 2025 at 3:23 PM UTC
We’re vegan girls—her mom’s greasy meat,
you brushed my wrist and
heartburn,
your smirk said don’t you dare retreat,
I swallowed all shame and
my burn.
She sliced stinky pig with pearls and pride.
You licked your lips just
red wine,
beneath the cloth, our thighs unsatisfied—
her raw tofu, just wet—
all mine.
Jul 25, 2025
Jul 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM UTC
Your harsh whips upon my skin,
The shackles around my feet,
The cuffs on my hands,
Why must I endure this?
What have I done?
Did I cause this?
Was it my fault,
O’ dear captor,
Please let me go,
I have a life I must live,
Upon my last vowel,
A booming voice echoes,
“Memento mori”
I’m not perfect I know,
But please give me a chance,
Give me a chance to prove myself,
Allow me to tear off this mask at once,
This crimson speckled mask.
Thank you my dear,
You have set me free,
Now let this be upon me,
I will now perform my greatest act,
And pull off this wretched mask,
As I tug and tug,
I am not released,
For years I try,
Why won’t it come off?
Will I ever be free,
The mask is all I know,
It has been with me through thick and thin,
This so-called wretched mask,
Is it me?
What constitutes my identity?
What features make me,
Me?
It is as though I have never left those chains,
No matter how far I run,
No matter how many twists and turns,
His voice follows me,
“Memento mori”,
I’ve reached the end of my crossroad,
Remember,
I must die.
Sep 13, 2024
Sep 13, 2024 at 8:40 PM UTC
I am the eye on your shelf
I am the scratches of ink
that rip through unbarred arenas-
when sunken bones and unburied prints
amass a clump of
galloping words
tracing measured tracks
of battles forlorn
Hence my history beckons and the
leather straps like tires
machinal; my life
reduced to rubble burn-marks
in a book that
made you look
without a care
for where-
to put it.
another whisper in the wind which once
carried its conquered careful balance
Now sits still as a spineless paperweight
propped up by the heap of dust
in your periphery
Dec 27, 2023
Dec 27, 2023 at 12:25 PM UTC
Ah, you never see how my looks freeze
and how they stick to the feelings behind the scenery...
And there are times beyond the imaginary
when you do not search, just come across:
a tiny piece of paradise -
which the value is enormous...
A new paradise I found today,
merci!
A harmless and innocent memento:
I have the power to carry it inside
and you are full of leniency...
I get cosmic vibrations at times
feeling the universe testing me
and making arrangements,
the noble angel smiles and whispers:
'never question the grace of destiny'.
We were tried and gifted with what we lacked
and we met our inner selves:
we were hungry to share,
we were for love,
we are for love,
we will be for love, dear...
You will be to relieve,
I will be to live...
To live in the deepest sides of the meaning...
How insanely I miss you...
Feb 16, 2022
Feb 16, 2022 at 4:08 AM UTC
Today is one of those days
where I could weep any minute.
Where it feels as if my soul has been laid bare,
and anything can touch it.
The thought of you not being here
to comfort me in these times,
makes it almost unbearable.
How I wish to see you on the other side.
Nov 1, 2021
Nov 1, 2021 at 10:59 AM UTC
I wake up and you are still here.
You, of course, being something I can't touch,
a feeling, maybe. A high school crush on forever.
You, of course, are not really a you, but an us,
something I can't touch; a promise
to someone, of something. What it is about
I can't remember. What it is all about I can never
remember.
You are filled with every good day I've ever had
and every good day I never will. Your body bursts
with all the things I didn't get to do
because I was lying in bed, or crying in the shower,
or scared of what strangers would think of me.
When you smile, your teeth bare courage, click-clacking
with the memories of speeding down the highway and turning down
an invitation to a very, very quiet concert.
I can't tear myself into two neat pieces to hate and love you all the same,
I want to pick the meat off the bones and take all the parts I'm grateful for,
leaving you a skeleton carcass that gloats about everything that passed me by.
You, though, are not a meal and I am not a vulture.
I cannot separate the memento from the mori
which, still, leaves me with two choices.
Pretend none of it ever happened,
or accept the whole impossibly beautiful, unimaginably ugly thing.
Nov 15, 2020
Nov 15, 2020 at 8:01 AM UTC
Let's Die
Let’s Die
Let’s die for a while
You, me
Let’s die
Let nature rust us meanwhile
Let’s shed this skin and masks we wear
Let’s break shell like a caterpillar
Let’s aspire to achieve a state of flow like a serene river
Let’s ask question that speak truth to power
Let’s ensure that no one is devoured
Let’s hold each other’s hand to uplift each other
Let’s make sure that everyone’s voice is heard,
Let’s put a stop to this brutal abuse and killing
Let’s put an ethical WHY before each of our dealing,
No matter how much we are unwilling
Let’s not wait for someone to break the railing
Let’s be the one who doesn’t lead the crowd
Rather stays in the centre and feels proud
Let’s ask for more humility from the all encompassing creator
As we are nothing but “just a pale blue dot,”
arrogantly moving in the vibrating vastness of the universe
Let’s end the cycle of degradation and humiliation
Let’s stop lying for pursuing immediate gratification
Let’s question fundamentals that we have been taught
Not to dismantle all but to grow without them getting rot
Let’s make this death a rupture moment
Not the one that spills blood and resentment
Let’s **** some memories to begin afresh
Let’s hide for a while in each other’s chest
Let’s make this body weak and vulnerable
Let’s carry someone else’s pain on our shoulders
which for them is unbearable
Let’s fall sick,
Let’s live our last wish,
Let’s fulfill someone’s last wish
If we do,
It will be enough to live a life and
call it worth lived
when we die
Aditya
(by all, to all, for all)
Oct 19, 2020
Oct 19, 2020 at 12:09 PM UTC
You must look back,
all the things in this world will last only for a moment
do you not remember me?
My one and only.
Morie, I know how it feels like
to perish with your own hands,
will you endure for me?
Or will you live for your selfish acts?
Morie, you must remember me.
My eyes were glued by the way
you stroll your naked feet
down that hollow path,
I could not penetrate my emotions
I buried beneath the tenders of this black forest,
your face was glowing like it was sun-kissed.
Your lips curving into a flawless beam,
it was filtered with the hue of a poached tomato
your fists were of terrified by what it discovers
the smell of your honeycomb fragrance
stuck through my nostrils and your soft brown silk hair
sways into your naked back,
oh, what a sweet body I am yearning to taste.
I am dying to be with you
how I long to run away with you
how I craved of you lying beside me
I am reckless to know,
I am in great remorse.
You were searching around,
your emerald eyes pierce into mine
the way it forced me to meet you somewhere
in another realm where I am no Death, and
you are no Prisoner of the dead.
Until your soft voice let out an awful cry,
Morie, do you not want me?
The distant thump of your footsteps
taking you away from me,
brought me back to my reverie.
Why are you doing this?
You ran as swift as you can
go around in an endless loop
you can't escape me, you can't hide forever.
Morie, how does it feel like
to perish with your own hands?
I am here to bring you back
of your lost memories
of your lost soul wandering
yet you rose from the dead — hid under
the rainbow cloud
the clock spending until the last dime,
traveling hands will decide when it's time.
Memento mori
remember your death,
it was destiny that called
you are to be mine.
Morie, remember me
I am Death, I will go after you
the time ticks now
hide before I catch you.
Mar 16, 2020
Mar 16, 2020 at 3:27 AM UTC
Snapshots
by Michael R. Burch
Here I scrawl extravagant rainbows.
And there you go, skipping your way to school.
And here we are, drifting apart
like untethered balloons.
Here I am, creating "art,"
chanting in shadows,
pale as the crinoline moon,
ignoring your face.
There you go,
in diaphanous lace,
making another man’s heart swoon.
Suddenly, unthinkably, here he is,
taking my place.
Published by Tucumcari Literary Review, Romantics Quarterly, Centrifugal Eye, Poetry Webring, Poetry Life & Times and The Eclectic Muse. Keywords/Tags: snapshot, picture, photograph, photo, album, memory, keepsake, remembrance, token, memento, art, replacement
Mar 23, 2020
Mar 23, 2020 at 12:12 AM UTC
Tell me what’s it like when you get a hold of
The things you want and whatever you prayed for
3 whole nights on that greyhound, searching
Looking for peace in a bottle of bourbon
Find hope in uncertain cuz one things certain
Dead by 27 if I don’t put the work in
Eyes wide open, head on a swivel
Looking for an answer to this ******* riddle
Mama told me keep my head on straight
I can’t come down
But the turns and the crossroads seal your fate
In this town
Screaming out to god with the ugliest face
I look alive
3 more years til it all goes away
I have the time
Apr 22, 2019
Apr 22, 2019 at 3:04 AM UTC
Father forgive me as your creation.
Your disowned student, the bane and your lost rival.
Doubts and questions since inception about inception. My reception and your deception.
Saving only comes for those worth saving. But you were the one who left me to danger.
I require not a touch nor love from you or those cut from your cloth. Just give me back what you stole from me.
Because I’ve never felt more scattered than when you left me out to live. Rid me of your leadership.
Jan 6, 2019
Jan 6, 2019 at 10:40 PM UTC
How do you ask yourself
About the time you have wasted
And all the tears you've shed?
May 3, 2018
May 3, 2018 at 1:58 AM UTC
Awkward silence
Vanitas still-life
Remembering I must die
Thinking about afterlife
Still-life painting
Symbols of death or transience
The same old story
Unique true glory
Attention to one more fact
I know I'm into this
I'm a part of everything
Even without feeling it
Memento mori
Painted bended blind
A friendly reminder
Coming across my mind
The brevity of human life
A proper masterpiece
No one can escape
Let it rest in Peace
Nov 11, 2017
Nov 11, 2017 at 11:22 AM UTC
I can’t remember to forget you,
I can’t forget to remember you,
I can’t remember to forget,
I can’t forget to remember,
I can’t remember to,
I can’t forget to,
I can’t remember,
I can’t forget,
I can’t,
I can’t,
I,
I,
I remember,
once,
you told me to watch Memento,
that must of been over two decades ago,
it’s interesting how we remember little trivial things,
from years ago,
but somehow we sometimes forget important things,
that happen moments ago,
Selective memory is a thing,
and so is selective amnesia,
I suppose in some ways my memories of you,
are kept inside me as personal mementos,
I miss you,
I miss the life we never had together,
I miss you massive fridge,
I miss our days in Bali,
I miss making love,
with you like you were the only person in the world,
and I mean that honestly,
because in those moments you were the only person,
the only person,
that showed me hope,
the only person,
that showed me love,
when I met you I was a street kid,
I had no money and no class,
but you took me under your angel wings,
and I will always remember that,
I can’t remember to forget you,
I can’t forget to remember you,
I can’t remember to forget,
I can’t forget to remember,
I can’t remember to,
I can’t forget to,
I can’t remember,
I can’t forget,
I can’t,
I can’t,
I,
I,
I know,
that you’re married now,
happily in fact,
and I’m not trying to mess with that,
please don’t take these words,
as an invitation of any sorts,
I wish you all the best this world has to offer,
because honestly that’s what you deserve,
sure,
I love you,
I can not deny that in any way,
but that love,
is so far beyond this physical plane,
I know how dysfunctional I am,
and I’ve given up all hopes in making a family,
so when I see that you are married,
I truly pray to God that that marriage for ever after progresses happily,
and actually,
I only wrote this to tell you that I finally saw Memento,
and I don’t even if you remember telling me to watch it,
I guess that’s part of what Selective Memory Loss is,
or rather selective amnesia,
anyways whatever I’ll just get back to what I was doing,
so that you can get back to what you were doing,
which is continuing to live this life and create this memories,
or erase these memories either way I hope you get whatever you’re pursing,
I can’t remember to forget you,
I can’t forget to remember you,
I can’t remember to forget,
I can’t forget to remember,
I can’t remember to,
I can’t forget to,
I can’t remember,
I can’t forget…
∆ Aaron LA Lux ∆
author of multiple best selling poetry books.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548700746
Aug 1, 2017
Aug 1, 2017 at 5:40 PM UTC
If we could write a motion memento
Just a couple of sentences long.
Just long enough for people to stop and live
the moment along.
If we could stop and tell the world the point of it all,
many eyes of disguise would laugh as they think they already know.
How could we forget and loose our point along the way,
And keep on walking breathlessly, as if the secret has never been told away.
We share our memories and our tears
We live in an irrational emotional fears.
If we could write a motion memento
Just a couple of sentences long
just long enough to catch attention
in this fast living world.
Just long enough to remind you
that all you have is NOW.
Jan 12, 2017
Jan 12, 2017 at 4:37 AM UTC
An inner conflict was brewing in the brain of this Regal Man.
Snap shots of his world come and go, having lost time as his memento.
He never missed the most important meeting on his calendar each day, same as planned.
His insipid body, a vehicle driven by the same shiny things that attract barracudas.
A papercut on his tongue from licking an envelope, was a microscopic distraction.
Yearning for a momentary state of bliss, it was time for his sinuous routine to get on with the show.
The ***** induced a memory of his stoicism, brought back to life as an afterglow.
Disparate cynics, cannot fathom these deepest of depths.
Man can’t choose his D.N.A. like nomenclature.
Be blessed you are immune child and take a deep breath.
Habits may be hard to swallow by some; no plethora of education.
As much of a paradox as this may be, the pursuit of this dance is not feeling like death.
Knowing that every cylindrical spin of the pistol can determine the future,
Indulging in an appetite of chaos, will be sure to obscure.
Only hours before the celebration that gives thanks to our last Harvest,
A quandary this time was stewing in this stoic man’s galaxy.
On his left shoulder was a badger, putting his life to THE TEST.
To his right was an angel, her relentless pleas dismissed.
Like being beset in quicksand, he dreamed that option was best.
A thought went through his head but vanished like a wave at sea.
Licking his fingers to feel the wind he sang out, “Memeto- Mori”. (Remember Your Death)
11/20/16 By _TRF R.I. P.hriend
Dec 11, 2016
Dec 11, 2016 at 10:31 PM UTC
Fresh corpses line the boulevard
as the street lights do,
and thrushes sing a requiem
for the old man who
lights a white candle each morning.
Sep 22, 2016
Sep 22, 2016 at 5:46 PM UTC
Remember Me,
On a full bloom paradise, a sweet spring escapade,
when the first bud flourishes,
on the day you ended my feelings with a drought.
Remember Me,
On a dwindling heat, a midsummer’s day,
when the ocean wave crashes,
with me shouting your name.
Remember Me,
On a soft autumn breeze, a free falling dream,
when the last leaf drops,
together with a heart flowing on a violent stream.
Remember Me,
On a winter solstice, a frostbitten goodnight,
when our fragment of memories scatters in a snow-kissed temptation
as they screamed for a horrible goodbye.
Sep 17, 2016
Sep 17, 2016 at 6:16 AM UTC
She calls and tells me she's discovered herself. She can no longer see me as apart of her future, this self she discovered, this self I always loved in every form, can no longer love me.
My edges were always rough, filled with mistakes and awkward shades. But I changed, I broke every bone in my body, stretched within an inch of my life, as I was sculpted by her.
And now I've turned into an abandoned art piece. Incomplete. Not even worth being a memento.
So just throw me away.
Nov 3, 2015
Nov 3, 2015 at 3:30 AM UTC
Memories
Moans and groans of the dying and the living-dead
Last words: phrases that lingered
Still on their tongues
Bloods, boots and broken bones on cassava farms
where they fell
Crosses rotten, and this rusty brown shell
Tell stories of a past - that ****** movie
This ****** war
Jun 11, 2014
Jun 11, 2014 at 10:59 AM UTC