THE FOLLOWING POEM WAS SELECTED IN WINGWORD POETRY PRIZE 2023 LONGLIST.
Today I held time.
Flipped through it,
With my hand!
I pulled it out,
And lovingly dusted it.
Time slips like sand.
But it hadn't changed,
Only I had.
My best friend, my lover.
My favourite diary,
Same silver stars
On the navy blue cover!
"Reminds me of Harry Potter!"
I would often say
And hid it with great care.
Only my mother knew
And her daughter
Of the wonders within
That now lay bare.
As this night gets hotter,
I am transported back
To my magical childhood!
To fairies and gnomes
(Even timetables and notes)
And fantasy wood.
Remember how we noted numbers?
And dialled them with landline?
It's a list of my friends then!
And rants about chemistry
O how I hated it!
Time has passed, how and when?
A piece of my heart I found
And at long last,
Even the Neopets password!
"Hope they didn't close the website,
I used to have two Neopets
And one if them was a bird!"
Torrents, downloads and
Yahoo Messenger chats,
The 90's kids would know!
Makeover games were thrilling
So were stappoo, pithhoo
FLAMES and Friend or Foe!
I see again the drawing
Of the balloon seller
My father taught me.
The inspiring notes
My mother lovingly wrote
Are there for me to see!
Memories you can touch,
Ink you can feel across time.
Parts of me, I remembered
Parts I had forgotten.
O song of memory!
You are a melody unheard.
I find myself again
In the yellow pages
Of my childhood diary.
As I hold it to my chest
A gentle fire burns
At once sweet and fiery.
Some pages are blank
And full of hope
For you to write again.
To grow and do great things
Remembering your essence
As today,
Becomes another memory lane.