Retrieval - Feb 17 2024

 

Retrieval

Feb 17 2024



Words that elude me.

Tip of the tongue,

but I get just a taste

before it’s snatched away.

A fleeting aha,

when it’s there for the having

but quickly fades to black.

Or I follow a fragment

into a blind canyon

and find I'm stuck in there,

that stubborn bit

taking up my entire field of vision

so nothing else gets in.

The harder I try

the further it recedes.

Distraction is the key, they say

get your mind somewhere else,

and the word

will materialize

in a sudden triumphant flash.

Recently

it was periwinkle

plethoric.

Esoteric, I know;

who even needs words like that?

And names, of course

always names.

Which is most embarrassing, face-to-face.

Is this the thin edge of dementia?

Is this dense fog of bewilderment

how it feels?

Stumbling through the miasma

hands out-stretched

trying to get my bearings?

And the clever work-arounds

when I tire of waiting.

But the word is there

in some deep recess of the brain.

Practice.

Don't panic.

Distract yourself.

Amazing, how often it comes

if I'm patient enough

and relax.

The perfect word

I stumble across

just as the fog lifts.