Remind Me

1.

My name is ghost,
pronounced lost—

a shadow in the eyes
of the ones I’ve loved.

Love after love,
renounced.

Or is it pronounced
loss after loss?

2.

I slip between two lips
twice bitten,

four thistles
for limbs.

3.

Blue flowers are rare in nature.

Blue women, less so.

4.

My name is:

chicory
cornflower
spiderwort

lupine
vetch
forget-me-not

5.

Remind me of your name?

6.

Sorry,
ghosts aren’t good with names.

We think you’re all the same
man, who killed us
that one time.

7.

The doctor says:

“distinguish what is live
and what is memory.”

8.

Irony:

the doctor treats a ghost.

9.

larkspur
columbine
glory-of-the-snow

10.

But how would he know;

the dead are
I am just a

patient.