GREG SANTOS IN THE MEMORY PALACE

Greg Santos photo: Mollye Miller

Greg Santos

WITHIN THE MEMORY PALACE

after James Tate 

You remember taking your first bite of caribou, 

hanging from the side of a reservoir, 

somehow losing your glasses and shoes in the same night, 

being deathly afraid of helicopters, 

running, running for your life and never looking back. 

You had a happy childhood. 

Then you awoke in a strange town, 

you were at a party, off in some corner alone. 

Someone kissed you in the dark. 

You stopped running and learned to appreciate 

strolls through marshes and sand dunes. 

You even had a chance to sit on a wicker chair for a spell. 

But the running of your youth was replaced by train tracks, 

watching the horizon rise and fall while at sea, 

flying over cliffs and dazzling cities. 

An exquisite afternoon tea service, 

getting caught in a rainstorm in church, 

a honeymoon in Rhode Island, 

push push push, you’re doing great!

from Ghost Face by Greg Santos (DC Books, 2020)  

Ghost Face, Greg Santos' third collection, was scheduled to be launched on May 2, 2020 at Montreal’s Paragraphe Bookstore as part of the now-cancelled 2020 Blue Metropolis International Literary Festival. Ghost Face can be pre-ordered through Indigo and also directly from DC Books when the book is published. Its publication date is yet to be determined.