Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Name Tags Required

Some days, my brain
rushes to forgetfulness,
like a fly to flypaper.
I jiggle and twist,
pull one thought loose,
and stick two others
in the nether regions of irretrievability.
You’d think a half century plus
of remembering in the nick of time,
the right name
would’ve been an easy find.

22 comments:

jel said...

don't tell me that it don't get any better the older you get ,
the remember game. ol well!



before me forget thanks for the comment today!

take care

sage said...

just as long as it wasn't your own name you forgot...

Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. said...

What's in a name anyway, Frank.

floots said...

spot on
(glad it's not just me) :)

MB said...

nether regions of irretrievability

So that's what they're called. I like how you worked the stickiness into a problem that's usually associated with looseness. Makes the poem stick.

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

I thought it was just me! :p

The Site Administrator said...

pat, thank you for this poem. i can relate to it on a number of levels. it remined me of one of my favourite haiku by the free-verse haiku poet taneda santoka (1882-1940):

flypaper, no escape ...
yell in a loud voice
till you're dead

perhaps we are the flies, and some of the choices we've made (or those that have been made for us) constitute the flypaper ...

Masago said...

This is terrific! You should seriously hard-copy publish a bunch of these...I'd buy a copy!

Amalendu said...

This comment is to solicit my presence...to remind, not to forget...
well said Pat

dumbdodi said...

I am very bad with names too, doesn't matter I am not fifty plus.
I try a trick nowadays when I forget someone's name, I very innocently ask them to spell it out for me and pretend I am saving their name and number on my mobile..believe me it works most of the times :-)

Margie said...

Great poem Pat!
As always!!!!

Unknown said...

ha ha ha ... the truth is so funny. You can call me anything you want.

Osquer said...

Fantastic imagery, Pat!

I agree with Masago! I'd buy a copy, too!

Unknown said...

"my brain
rushes to forgetfulness" The originality of your words always strikes me. :-)

Joyce said...

I like the flypaper metaphor. Do people still use this paper?

polona said...

finding the right names and associating them with the right faces has never been an easy task for me
great poem on a subject we can all relate to!

Cathy said...

I can relate!

Russell Ragsdale said...

Many of the commentors to this blog are fluent in more than one language. Have you every had the experience you can't remember the word in your native tongue but can remember it in another language. The worst, however, is when you can't remember it in any of the several languages you speak. Now we know where it goes: "the nether regions of irretrievability."

Thanks Pat, for answering that question!

Sue hardy-Dawson said...

I've always had a useless memory-I often find myself standing in a room I entered to do something unable to remember what I intended to do. At least I've a head start, I shant notice senility and I've built up some inventive coping stratergies over the years

Neoma said...

for two years I called my neighbor by the wrong name. One day she corrected me........TWO years......well at least I was consistent......

Maybe that is why the name Bubba is so popular in the south.....it works for everyone...

Neoma said...

No problem, I didn't mind, haha.....

Pat Paulk said...

Jel, it don't get better, sorry. But, thanks for the comment before I forget!!

Sage, I'll never confess to that whatever my name is!!

Nothing Don! But, I sure seem to hurt alot of feelings.

Floots, misery loves company. You certainly lose the company with the wrong name.

MB, it's a rather sticky business depending on whose name one forgets. Thank you Ma'am!!

Well, Andrew it is, but I was trying to make you feel better.

Karasu, I've certainly made my share of flypaper decisions. Sure I haven't made my last either.

Vaughn, you are very kind. If I do, I'll be more than happy to sell you a dozen or so. One at the time of course.

Shyamalee, I hope you didn't forget. Thank you sir!!

Yeah, but when they spell out
S M I T H, or L E E, the gigs up. Thanks Dumbdodi!!

Margie, as always, thank you!!

Mikaelah, at my advanced years I'm subject to!! The truth can be very funny!!

Osquer, you are now on my "to sell to" list. Only 999,998 to go!!

Christine, thanks!! What an excellent compliment!!

Yes ma'am Joyce they do!! thank you!!

Polona, it always amazed me I could hold a job in sales. I nver could remember a customer's until about the third call. Thank you!!

Cathy you're too young to relate.

Russell it was such an easy question to answer. Wish you'd come up with some harder ones!! Thank you sir!!

Sue, that is the good thing about senility, you don't know, and all those around you are the ones with the cofused looks.

Nea, that's funny. You have a kind neighbor. Did you hear the one about Bubba and Earl at the gas station, oops, can't tell that one here. I forgot the punch line anyway.