I remember / je me souviens

I remember / je me souviens

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For those limbic bursts of nostalgia, invented by Proust, miniaturized by Nicholson Baker, and freeze-dried by Joe Brainard in his I remember and by Georges Perec in his Je me souviens.

But there are no fractions, the world is an integer
Like us, and like us it can neither stand wholly apart nor disappear.
When one is young it seems like a very strange and safe place,
But now that I have changed it feels merely odd, cold
And full of interest.
--John Ashbery, "A Wave"

Sometimes I sense that to put real confidence in my memory I have to get to the end of all rememberings. That seems to say that I forego remembering. And now that strikes me as an accurate description of what it is to have confidence in one's memory.
--Stanley Cavell, The Claim of Reason

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

I remember sitting on the front steps, waiting, waiting, waiting, and finally he would come, scoop me up in his arms, and ask me if he thought he'd be allowed to come home again. I remember him smelling like Old Spice, Budweiser, Camels, and shoe polish. When I see a homeless person drinking Budweiser or smoking Camels, I remember the extra dollar in my purse.

posted by morgan 12:55 AM
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