Italicized line from an Ellen Bass poem
sometimes I’m frightened
by how much memory
wants to get out
last month we locked
our orange tabby
in the pantry by mistake
when we found him
he had split
open a bag of rice
gouged long strips
of paint from the shelves
sometimes my body is like this
shutting away what it can’t
or doesn’t want to notice
I forget how silent
the remembering can be
I don’t see the damage
until I open myself up
and look
