Cicero Said Memory is the Strong Mental Grasp of Matter and Words,

by Abriana Jette

(a villanelle was here, then lost)

Language leaves him first. He fumbles his words.
Cicero said, “silence is the great art of conversation” but his silence maddens.
Dark mind of nerves zapping.
There are words we don’t say because they matter. Non Hodgkin’s. Alzheimer’s.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry the mind scratches from inside out, that there is so much to say that can’t be said.
We never ask the other what’s the matter.
Maybe that’s the type of silence Cicero was talking about, the way
to speak without words, to know without being told.
Without memory the mind’s matter scatters like birds in winter. Like the birds,
his words fly from him.
An entire sky zapping.
When Caesar was stabbed, Cicero wept.
Everyone agreed Cicero was not in on the conspiracy.
Maybe losing your memory is a lot like Caeser, stabbed in the back.
I say to him, “it’s beautiful out today”, but never these things about Cicero.
It’s a different comfort, to sit and watch the sky.
Cicero believed in language.
What else matters after memory zaps?
Birds fly, silence scatters.
~~~

Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Abriana Jette’s writing has appeared in Best New Poets 2022, Teachers & Writers Magazine, PLUME, Tampa Review and Poetry New Zealand. In 2023, Abriana received a Finalist Award from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and her work has also been supported by the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, the Southampton Writers Conference, and more.