The idea for this came from the old habit of tying a knot in a handkerchief to remind you of something.

[hozbreak]

Memory Hanky

First comes a knot for my heart
to protect me from the wreckage of reason.

There follows a knot for my head,
imagined source of the supreme fiction.

There’s a knot for each of my children,
proof that life is possible.

My mum has her own special knot
to protect her memory from death.

My dad has a knot to help me forget
how his love bequeathed a life of fear.

There are two knots reserved for me,
the first to remind me that I’m all there is.

The second is the knot of myself
to be untied when I return to dust.