Zombie

(for Bane)

a voice from across childhood
caught me unawares
unprepared, in midstep
between disremembering
and daydreaming.


suddenly stirred back to history
i stop short
and follow the voice into a memory
of a downcast glance and the letters of my name
on a slip of paper,
a splinter of wood removed from my hand
by clumsy gentle fingers,
purple flowers against a softened boyish face
in an abandoned phone booth.


i know it was you,
standing at the door of my high school
that new year’s.
i know it was you,
passing me by wordless
in the crowd.
i know it was you
i pretended not to see,
and crossed the street
into oblivion.


for a moment the voice lingers
ringing like a silver bell
then fades out in a blink,
disremembered
out of existence.