One of my favorite quotes ever:
You remember too much,
my mother said to me recently.Why hold onto all that? And I said,
Where can I put it down?— Anne Carson, from "The Glass Essay"
Where, indeed? I've never been able to put the memories down. I turned myself into a vessel to hold all that disappeared.
And here is a particularly unforgettable and elemental poem. It strips life down to the basics.
God's List of Liquids by Anne Carson
It was a November night of wind.
Leaves tore past the window.
God had the book of life open at PLEASURE
and was holding the pages down in one hand
because of the wind from the door.
For I made their flesh as a sieve
wrote God at the top of the page
and then listed in order:
Alcohol
Blood
Gratitude
Memory
Semen
Song
Tears
Time.