We’re living in a golden age of
memoir said no one I ever knew.
Knew biblically. I read the Bible
every morning. Except this morning.
Though I consider my dog’s eyes a bible,
the cursive heart, the lemon tree,
erotic memories, loose change, loose lips,
the ship of mourning, the sail of houses
so yes, I’m reading scripture all day long.
My first Bible was a little illustrated one
small enough for my 5-year-old palm.
I gazed at a well-tanned Eve, naked & lithe,
the red suggestion of her nipples.
At night they’re just a suggestion:
thus, a taxi driver in Napoli explained
stop signs we implored him to observe.
In middle school, I presented research
on Italian ancestors. I have none.
When I try to write autobiography
the problem is always me.
I’m too bored or distracted
to remember the way the woods
smelled or the look on my friend’s
face when we played doctor.
A girl I adored wore sweaters soft as forgetting.
Her name was Italian, wasn’t it? My first
farm, first shooting star, first time
I knew I was white, forgotten forgotten forgotten.
The first time I acted was in The Fantasticks:
Try to remember, & if you remember, then follow.
Jason Myers is the Editor-in-Chief of The EcoTheo Review. A National Poetry Series finalist, his work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Poet (introduced by Campbell McGrath), The Believer, Image, The Paris Review, West Branch, and numerous other journals. He works as hospice chaplain in Austin and is seeking ordination as an Episcopal priest.
