I’ve forgotten a few things 

How to spell psychiatrist, always a complicated word,

Especially when you need them. 

How to follow instructions 

so my carpets are full of tiny flakes 

In the broken universe of my flat.

How to turn right on a busy main road 

so I’m not rammed by whizzing vans 

beating time, delivering false hopes.     

I can’t remember faces, what they’re saying, 

I try to catch up, 

But is it the ventriloquist talking or you.  

I forget how to cross roads, 

the beep’s always red, 

so I stay on the pavement.  I obey the rules. 

I forget the time of day, 

If it’s light it must be night, 

Or is it the other way round. 

I forget your name,

But you look familiar. 

You once loved warm days in poppy fields. 

My brain’s disappearing 

Into fragments of matter, 

Soon it’ll just be a big hole.

Oh children, gods, NHS, everybody, 

Let me alone, 

Leave me to fade  gracefully into blissful oblivion.