Poetry by Candice M. Kelsey

kooikkari CC




Meditation on Selective Memory Begins with Jimmy Carter


who can identify every bird
               in the trees of Plains GA.

He and Rosalynn have a soft spot
               for birdwatching, from the

sweet songs of indigo buntings to
               yellow-throated warblers

ruby-throated hummingbirds &
               purple martins. Sometimes

vermillion flycatchers appear in
               fall & winter. I on the other

hand can identify every episode
               of Murder, She Wrote:

like “Birds of a Feather” or “Murder 
              Takes the Bus” & “The Corpse

Flew First Class” then “Snow White,
               Blood Red,” my soft spot

watching fictional murders solved
               by a stately woman wearing

well-plumed suits. My knowledge
               of Cabot Cove ME 
    
rivals Jimmy Carter’s knowledge of birds--

& I wonder what it says about us,
               the things we remember.

what it says about choosing to love
               something so deeply

it nests forever in the mind? Or even
               the things we forget, names

never to curl up inside our minds
               warm & at the ready, 

to be recalled with joy? What does it
               mean to discard something

like the mayor of a MS town did:
              ordering thirteen dogs

in the Montgomery County pound
              useless, to be taken out 

& shot? Dogs whose names
               no one can recall.




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​CANDICE M. KELSEY [she/her] is a poet, educator, and activist living bicoastally in L.A. and Georgia. Her work appears in Passengers Journal, Variant Literature, and The Laurel Review among others. A finalist for a Best Microfiction 2023, she is the author of six books. Candice also serves as a poetry reader for The Los Angeles Review. Find her @candice-kelsey-7 @candicekelsey1 and www.candicemkelseypoet.com.