(x = space)

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Nos Temps Perdu

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Bad memories

Shameful

We wince

But it’s okay

Freudianism aside

(which I guess

we cannot do,

not entirely)

They are over now

We don’t have to

Live them

There should be

Some knee-jerk

Relief in this

We don’t have to live them

More than once,

The once that lived them

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There’s much to do,

Of course

Therapy and such

And telling those

Who must be told

While learning

Not to tell it again and again

To ourselves

Or live them

Many times more

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Enough ownership

To say

That happened

It’s made a difference

Here it is

A thing that

Doesn’t have to rule

My nerves

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Then there are

The good parts:

Learning

Or sometimes simply pleasure

Recalled from

Good things that have happened

If we’re going to live in memory

From time to time,

There are

The good parts, too

And, oh yeah, there is today

Where we are now

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Hello

Doctor

Name

Continue

Yesterday

Tomorrow

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Machine memory

Human memory

Both have glitches

Both can be recollected

Let go or kept in health

With clarity

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C L Couch

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National Parc of Tassili n’Ajjer, Algerian Sahara, near Djanet, rock engravings (7000 years old)

Photo by Azzedine Rouichi on Unsplash

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