Watch it fade
each character dissolving
like a ghost
in a mirror a word and then
the sentence slips
each and each (what is)
meant, the
word herself uncooling
and then
what secrets left puddle
lose shape, the body she thought
a minor evaporation
(it does not) stutter
the return and then
the word she knows
it isn’t meant
to last, unlearning itself
a blossom in reverse
This poem was originally published in Cicatrix: A Journal of Experimentation in 2017. I wanted to play with the concepts common in erasure poems, exploring both form and formatting by creating space between the words that can be a placeholder for a breath as well as to leave room for both anticipation and surprise. The idea of ink disappearing also plays with the idea of memory – one of the most frequent themes in my work. I loved the idea of ink fading over time the same way memories fade over time, adding another layer of complexity when trying to relive a moment, a story, or a feeling.
Allison Goldstein 