Written as a response to ‘Firsts’ by Amy Pay, in The Isis Magazine TT ’24.
The last is perfect,
Or it’s meant to be at least,
Edited, edited, edited —
Can you edit the past?
If everyone remembers their firsts,
No-one remembers the lasts:
Last words, lasts hugs,
Last chances at living.
The lasts get lost to the edits.
They never really happened.
You could go back and re-vist the past,
But no-one will. No one remembers,
What happened, why would you?
It’s been edited away.
You change the present,
The present is your ever-running past.
You will always be different,
Theseus’ ship was not his ship —
You are unrecognisable,
The last of all your lives,
But where does ‘You’ live?
You are your last, the last,
A last. What does it matter if your lasts,
Are always firsts?
