If Memory Serves me Well

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Specular fugue poem

The Specular Fugue poem was inspired by the Palindrome (Sotades—3^rd century BC) and Specular poem  (Julia Copus—early 2000s), and gives these tired forms a new lease of life.

In free verse.

1. Two stanzas in equal number of lines.
2. The 1^st stanza may be mundane.
3. The 2^nd stanza repeats the lines of the 1^st stanza in exact reverse line order (eg  the 1^st line of the 2^nd stanza lines up with the last line of the 1^st stanza), BUT not identical in phrasing:
   1. 1. Each line refracts into fugue, i.e. an alternative ‘truth’ to the recall of an event.*
   2. 2. Includes one tether word or phrase (as demonstrated in my poem) from each of the corresponding lines.
   3. 3. The tenses may be changed to suit the poem, or the semantics, eg drapes and curtains (from my poem below).

* It introduces a layer of dissociation: each line in stanza two becomes an alternative truth, echoing the fugue state where recall is fragmented, unreliable, or emotionally reshaped.

NOTE: (Line 7) loud here means bright or gaudy.