Maria Suggs

Petals Fall

You’ve fallen out of my memory

bits and pieces at a time

The lines on your hand

the shape of your nose

How you smelled when you were close

I wonder if mourning

Is really the right word.

I am sad I have ghosts of you in my memory

Doing laundry while we spoke

Telling secrets in a parking lot

I am frustrated that I know you, 

knew you?

Your favorite candy to pick off the shelf

Songs you loved to play in your car

Haunting my senses with familiarity 

And if I’m grieving,

When will it cease?

Your name brings me back

Like the smell of home,

A reality I can no longer acknowledge. 

You’ve fallen out of my memory

But the roots remain.