wildscape. literary journal

Need Considered at the Shore
by Keith Moul

I’m speculating now. I rushed
through a lit mag relying on art:
abstracts mostly, artifacts of our
time, you know, postmodern angst
because everything means nothing.

Well I’m on a bench at a peaceful
shore, straining to remember when
nothing meant everything, and more.
But damn those memories die.

Even a name here on a bronze plaque
that shone a long time stands alone
as in a reliquary, synapses themselves
corroded with oxidation, pre-synaptic
irreconcilable with the post-synaptic.

Young people jog right by, laughing
maybe at the latest joke, at an old man
frozen-faced in thought at the tide,
along the path of countless bronze
memories disdained, although inscribed.
Energy should be fueled by legacy
to be enough to join the wind,
feel its buffeting, rippling all about,
the future after all.

I suffer with my need to remember,
not to fade, not to die.

about the author // Keith Moul

Keith Moul (he/him) is a poet of place, a photographer of the distinction light adds to place. Both his poems and photos are published widely. His photos are digital, striving for high contrast and saturation, which makes his vision colorful (or weak, requiring enhancement).