Memorize Something

There are images everywhere. There are images of images. A tree. Her shadow. The nest in the tree. The colors of the bird song. 

See it outside. Then close your eyes. See it inside. Remember. Everything. 

The texture of the trunk. How, like shingles, does the bark hang? How many hand prints tall is the trunk? 20 of my son’s. 13 of my dad’s? If only I could remember his hands.  

I want to describe the smell to you. Do the leaves smell like mint? Like morning incense? They smell like the time you fell in a rose bush. Another image.

Remember something. Exactly how it is. Hold back your instinct to adjust the memory for today’s simplicity. 

Learn a poem. Learn a prayer. Learn someone else’s prayer. Exactly how it is written. Follow the punctuation. Follow the inflection. Follow the dialect. Let your lips learn something unfamiliar. It will become familiar if you say it. A meaning will appear. 

If you let it  into your heart, you will learn it by heart.