Prosopagnosia (face blindness): the inability to recognise faces.
Drizzle, priestly drone, an autumn of the eyes, flowers
entwined as if holding on, my father’s polished mahogany
casket, an older woman crosier-hooked over prised-open
jaws in the earth, shoes I’d seen in a cupboard at home,
a patent leather handbag creasing her elbow, royal blue
damask, milky and tender as my baby skin nestling
into it, an unassuming jacket. Of course, Mum,
it was you, appearances aside, I was grieving too.
Paul Scully is a Sydney poet. His first collection, An Existential Grammar, was published by Walleah Press in April 2014, and was shortlisted for the Anne Elder Prize.