Reduced To Clear

I can neither evoke every house number

nor name each street. Memory Lane

has become a Zone 1 London borough.

Overcrowded like a Victoria Line platform

with thousands of familiar peak hours faces

I can recall, but not corroborate names.

Each move has led to more forgetfulness,

as you learn to mind the gap, or live in it.

How claustrophobic it is to remain trapped

in the present tense. A true historian’s nightmare!

Like your memory confusing a Beckenham caff

with a dinner in Notting Hill. Now all the same.

No wonder I associate my past with Tesco’s:

some memories are like items reduced to clear.