The Tautology
I found a list in a notepad. The first line read “One Day Long (312),” followed by “This is not an allegory (1-9).” It was like trying to figure out code. But I was the one that had made up this puzzle. And yet I couldn’t figure it out. I kept reading.
“Falling Again, Again.” “Orange Cola Blues.” I make laundry lists like this for snippets of ideas I have that I’d like to explore later. But I couldn’t get a handle on any of this.
I couldn’t read the next one because it was illegible, but the one following simply said “Microwave.” Then, it was another illegible word followed by Beyond, and then another illegible word — “Something Beyond Something.” I’d like to say it says people in both places, but I was not too sure.
Even so, it was riveting.
“Dressed in Blue Eye Shadow.” And then I stopped. That one gave it all away! They were the new titles of old poems I had reworked last year.
How could I forget this? It disturbed me. But I was delighted anyway, and I immediately wanted to seek these old poems out and get reacquainted with them.
I usually scratch out these scrawled reminders after they were resolved to avoid confusion later. I was about to put lines through these when I decided not to. I was going to find this again maybe next year, and the same mystery would unfold and lead me back to these poems once again.