Today I found a long lost poem
A thought was hanging there, unfinished
All it said was “I remember”
Funny how I don’t remember what was to come next
Whatever it was could not have meant as much as that single phrase

I remember

That makes me human

I remember the good and the bad, the disappointments and the nice surprises

I remember my old friends and the aliens we were looking for

I remember all the crushes I have had

I remember times of mental clarity and times when nothing seemed clear at all
I remember the feeling of thinking and the thinking behind feelings

I remember useless things
I remember Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic: the Gathering, Shoots and Ladders, Crash Bandicoot...

I remember useful things

I remember people
I remember dead people
I remember people who are still alive

I remember crying. As a child. My freshman year. Recently.
I remember laughing. Almost every day.

I remember poetry and prose and bad prose and worse poetry

I remember thinking girls were icky
I remember thinking I was icky

I remember the Starship Enterprise and the Owlship and X wings and Tie Fighters and the Batmobile.
I remember love stories

I remember things at weird times
I fail to remember when I want to

I remember all the standardized test essays I've written
The one set inside a computer, the one proclaiming my pride in being weird, the one about Chinese Yoyo, the one about my brother

I remember thinking I'd have time to do everything I wanted to try
I remember thinking I'd never even have time to do the things that I had to do

I remember waiting for inspiration
I remember having inspiration and letting it slip away because I had to do something else

I remember these two times at summer camp more than the other times
One was embarrassing and I regret it a little
One was deep and meaningful and I'll never regret it
All I regret is failing to keep up with her

I remember the plays I've been in
Seventeen and counting
And I remember the elation in a job well done and the despair for a show that never came together

I remember times when I should've spoken up
I remember times when I should've kept my trap shut
I remember lost opportunities

I remember the extremes and I even remember the middle times
I remember love, hate, anger, depression, happiness, emptiness, relief, lostness, and boredom

But all this is extra
I should've stopped writing at the top of the page
Just like before

All that needs to be said, all that describes my being, is this:

I remember