One of these days I will remember you to someone else
by t. zoey benally

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
Pull out the nanoid stainless steel cog on my Nixon watch
Daily life etched and scratched like happy smile wrinkles onto its face
Stop the second hand, painted sticky Washington ripe apple
Fallen to the ground from Garfield tree orchards
Turn it backwards
Turn it backwards and spin the clouds,
Spin the clouds like crabs, trickling back into the ocean
Receding with the waves
Sunset exoskeleton bellies tickled by taupe sand and blood warm murmuring waves
Sky furling out like a tutu as earth pirouettes back through remembered time

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
Describe the kindness that you shared with me
Minty gum sticks on long, dull afternoons
Sweet powder dusting fingerprint arc,
Loop and whorl ridges as I unwrap square paper scraps
Fine confection, which I lick onto the tip of my tongue and savor
Sugar to power the notes and stanzas of my retrospective songs

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
I will describe the way you restarted the spin of my earth’s magma
How you recalled Fluid Dynamics 101, just in the nick of time, ala “The Core”
I will recount harrowing epics of how you figured out the cryptic manual
For the weapon to defeat ultimate evil and protect life
Just like on the “Fifth Element”
I will chronicle events leading up to the mouth to mouth resuscitation of Christmas
After you stopped the Grinch from stealing it
AND all the presents from under Whoville trees
I will remind the eternally forgetful cosmos how you shifted the equilibrium
And brought balance back to the force
Jedi like in your precision and skill
AND that you had no light saber OR Master Yoda to aid you

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
I will try to mentally capture
And paint Sistine frescoes of your laughter
I will be no more successful than if I tried to lip-sync the humming heartbeat of a mouse
No more successful than if I tried to bottle the white eastern skies bleached by the rising sun
No more successful than if I tried to slide down light quantum arcs, water drop prism split into rainbows
Despite these failures I will persist and I will aspire to paint murals inspired by the color of your eyes
Attempting to capture them in Palouse winter skies at dusk
Espy them in the fielded hills after the plow

One of these days I will remember you to someone else
And they will nod their head
Feign comprehension
Simulate understanding
But they will never comprehend
Remain utterly blind to your brilliance
Never truly understand
Exactly
Precisely
What you mean
To me