Drunk By the Petals of a Mnemony

Photo prompt poem written 11 years ago, but it feels newly relevant to me again with the death of my best friend last March.

wispy, misted-over

like underwater eyes

like an overdose of deliquescent grain, fermenting,

collecting in the retinas,

dissolving it all in acidic rivulets with its sullen slosh.

and it's hard to tell if you're really there,

or if vengeful neurons, irate with neglect,

merely taunt me

pushing dusty rusted buttons long unused

to coalesce this milky molten blur into

your murkily manifest memory.

it's as if you're standing there,

telling me it was never anything but

streetlights, shadows, and October leaves,

anyway.