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The Afterpast Review

A Feminist Magazine

Do you remember by Elizabeth Beck (Kentucky)

12/10/2023

 
the first song you memorized,
singing along, maybe snapping
with the beat? Not a nursery
rhyme nor lullaby and not
the alphabet song. The tune

you heard on the radio
wormed its way into your soul
so deeply, every time you hear
it played, nostalgia floods
your heart, a strange sense
of déjà vu. Maybe you smell
​
coconut and chlorine or even
popcorn and pine trees. Memory
defined by melody and love
remembered within beats.

​A song for the first kiss,
another for a broken heart.
The one chosen for the first dance,
the other your child seems to know.
Which song loops inside your head

when you’re not thinking? Is there
one that catches you can’t seem
shake? How many songs can you sing,
remembering lyrics from years ago
when you can’t even remember
where you left your keys?

What song do you hope to hear
when it’s all over?





B. Elizabeth Beck is the author of the Summer Tour Trilogy. Her four poetry collections include: Mama Tried (Broadstone Books, 2022), Painted Daydreams: Collection of Ekphrastic Poems (Accents Publishing, 2019), insignificant (Evening Street Press, 2013), and Interiors (Finishing Line Press, 2013). Her forthcoming collection of poems, Dancing on the Page will be published by Rabbit House Press in 2024. Swan Songs, her debut collection of short stories will be published by Accents Publishing in 2024. In 2011, she founded the Teen Howl Poetry Series that serves the youth of central Kentucky with a monthly open mic series. For more information about Elizabeth: www.elizbeck.com

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