Robert Runté is Senior Editor with EssentialEdits.ca and has edited over 35 traditionally published books, primarily science fiction and fantasy. A former professor, he has won three Aurora Awards (Canadian SF&F) for his literary criticism. He currently reviews for the Ottawa Review of Books. His own fiction has been published in over forty venues and six of his short stories have been reprinted in ‘best of’ collections, such as Canadian Shorts II and the first Metastellar print anthology. He lives in Lethbridge Alberta Canada. 

Memory Loss

We perceive our selves
who we are, 
in this moment, 
as the culmination of all our experiences; 
therefore: that our memories are a part of us, 
something that we have, 
or that we lose 
as we forget.

But memory is also held for us by others. 
The people who know who we are, 
because they were there 
and remember too. 

Their memory, perhaps, 
ever so slightly different, 
a variant perspective, 
as if seen from an angle 
to where we thought 
we remembered standing. 
Recognizable, still, as the same moment. 

Defining moments, 
existing in our heads, our selves. . .
infinitely outnumbered 
by the memories held in trust by others 
remembering those same moments. 
Mirrors to our remembered selves.

What happens when those others are gone? 
What happens to our selves when they leave 
and in leaving, 
take some portion of our memories with them?

Unbalanced, 
more of our memories 
across that boundary 
than remain here, 
we begin to lean, to tip precariously, 
until inevitably, 
our selves
forgotten.