.
I must have been
about seven.
We would often
go fishing as a family.
This time uncle Dennis
came with us and said
to my folks
in his broad Bristolian accent,
“He is no fisherman!”
My mum defended in her
diplomatic way.
I just stood and listened.
.
This piece isn’t about
the small man
my uncle Dennis must have been,
saying this to a
seven year old boy.
Everyone
has had a voice
saying
“You’re not good enough.”
from a teacher, parent or someone.
my question is…
.
Why would my memory
choose
to
remember
t h o s e w o r d s
from 25 years ago?
.
Why, when my memory
has forgotten countless
better memories like
the scent of the air
between lips as I leaned
in for my first kiss?
Or the feeling of my feet first
standing on a surfboard,
skidding along a moving curve of ocean.
.
Why keep a photo
of uncle ‘I’m not good enough’
on the wall
of my memory?
Why play that scratchy sound recording
so crisply in my
adult ears?
.
It seems so stupid.
.
.
pied hill prawns 