MEMORY COLLECTIVE

foreword
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
afterword
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

(click rectangles to activate)

Jenny Boully
 Eric LeMay
Dinty W. Moore
 Elena Passarello
Kristen Radtke
 Jill Talbot
Dana Tommasino
 Ryan Van Meter

(please turn up sound; click images to activate)

                                               

 

Shadows, in blue, from midnight to Oxford, Royal to Prussian.

The pane (look west) is liquid with moon.

Every hour, the long chimes, loping up the stairwell and down the hall.

The shadows sigh.

Every quarter hour, the short chimes—three cuts in the silence.

The shelves grow heavy, the walls (Royal blue, I know) grow high.

My skin is alive with its scabs.

Shadows drink the floor.

At some point, the pane (look south) stirs up a lesser blue, a gaunt, blanched blue.

Scabs over my chest and legs, my arms and neck.

A pox (I know).

Shadows billow, down the hall, through the rooms.

Where I am not (they are) sleeping.

Addendum (I)

This is, to my memory, the first time I stayed awake all night. I chose it because the images return to me often, though oddly without affect. More like an occasional breeze or the bird you notice passing by the window. The persistence of it, without the expected psychological charge, moves me.

Addendum (II)

[8/10/13, 6:51 PM:] Oh, here's an odd question/request: do you have any photos of when I had the chicken pox as a kid.  It would have been after we moved to Jeremy Ct.  Also, do you or mom have any memories of it?  Working on a different piece.

[8/11/13, 8:35 AM] Don't remember any pics -- will check .... Mom has detailed memories!

[8/27/13, 11:05 AM:] Quick question for Mom: do yo remember anything about when I had chicken pox? I asked Dad, who couldn't remember anything. I know it was in the Jeremy Court house. Must have been 6/7/8? I'd appreciate any recollections. Thanks in advance!

[8/27/13, 12:33 PM:] Yes, I remember the chickpox experience very well! The day we brought David from the hospital (4-20-1976) you probably were just getting them. Every time I'd change little David's diaper, you'd say your bottom itched, which I of course I thought you wanted some attention also, so I gingerly put baby power on your bottom also. A few days later I noticed a few larger "pox", not many though, and one huge "pox" on David's foot. Sure enough you really had a reason to itch! The dr. said you had a mild case of chicken pox!. Yours were mild, however your whole preschool class was exposed, so a few children also received them, including Richard Katz. (who had a very intense mom) Unfortunately, he had a more intense case and the family had to postpone their Florida trip a few days! Yes, I did receive a lecture from Mrs. Katz on why would a mother send a child to school with chicken pox!!! Diligent search for chicken pox became my quest from then on!!! Ouch!

[8/27/13, 1:20PM] Info from the golf course -- I told mom about your query re: your "pox" .... She has several "rememberances" .... You are correct, I have none :-(


Addendum (III)