Sunday, June 13, 2010

p o s t c a r d s

postcards_june13

i was cleaning
this morning
and came across
these pieces
of coral
and suddenly
i was
on the beach
again...

more tulum

in the
hot
blaring
sun
searching
the sand for
souvenirs.

riviera maya: coral collecting

i have been
thinking
a lot
lately
about memory.
how
we remember moments
in our lives
so distinctly.
we may not
remember
what we did
that day
years ago
at all
but we can
remember
a particular moment
that day.

a postcard
moment.

for example,
i was writing
a postcard
to my friend
and
as i was
placing
stickers
in the margins
of the card
i suddenly
remembered
the little
general-type store
on 15th street
in seattle
{where the walgreens is now}
where i bought
those japanese stickers.
i remember
it was
a lazy
sunday afternoon
{i miss those}
and
we were
wandering
around the
store
after brunch.
i remember
taking a polaroid
of my friend
in a blue
garden chair
in the store.
she wore blue.
it matched
the chair.
the blue
made her hair
the most
lovely shade
of reddish brown.

happy sunday to you.

now why
would my brain
choose
to file
that moment away?

and then
decide
to recall
it at that second?

a moment
all but
forgotten
until then?

. . .

happy sunday
to you.

xo

10 comments:

Louis Duke Photography said...

This is so true.

I have random flashbacks like that all the time.

It is always a little awkward when people start giving me funny looks for just standing there, staring off into space.

Great post.

Your blog is so lovely.

molly said...

oh I love this post, gwen.

This is absolutely the way memories are triggered, by some seemingly random inference to another. It happens to me all the time too.

alexandria said...

I love memories that swim around in our minds and come back when we least expect it with the simplest of details. Beautiful, beautiful post. It has me thinking and smiling so. Happy Summer to you too!

Erin Lang Norris said...

Lovely post.

So true. I've been thinking about memories a lot lately, too. But you put my thoughts into words. Thanks for that.

Anonymous said...

A beautiful post. If only I could do this as effortlessly as you do-I think I would have lived a more rich life.

f. pea said...

It's good that you take pictures at those moments. I can never remember whether they really happened, or I dreamed them.

johnny said...

I love this post darlin.....You really ARE an existentialist.....

lisa solomon said...

the moments that always "startle" me the most are the ones brought on by smell....

nice to see you here...
xo

shari said...

beautiful thoughts. love that coral. i also love lisa's comment. so true. xo

amisha said...

this is such a great post, gwen. i love those moments. and like lisa, i find myself sometimes transported by smell... it always comes as such a surprise.
xo