Mind Shadow #1
Unexplained memories
I see this place often in my mind.
I am four years old, and dressed
in my school uniform –
a grey, pleated wool skirt
with a white cotton shirt
and a burgundy wool blazer,
scratchy grey wool tights
and buster brown tie ups.
I am alone,
standing beside an old table
which is taller than me,
in what seems to be
a musty wooden shed
or an unfinished back room.
Sunlight filters in,
throwing a slatted horizontal pattern,
slashing me into layers of light and dark.
I will never know how I got here,
or what may have happened
in the moments before or after,
but I do know the feeling of that solitary moment —
I need help and I can’t ask for it.
Thank you for joining me here. This poem was written in response to the day 18 poetry prompt “shadows” of National Poetry Month 2021 with Shabd Aaweg Review. This unexplained memory from my childhood came into my consciousness about 15 years ago and its felt sense recurs to this day. Anyone who may have been able to help me explain this mind shadow is no longer living.
