Switched-on Gutenberg Issue 15
Gains & Losses
 
 
The Seductiveness of the Memory Hole
 
He crumpled up the original message and any notes
that he himself had made,  and dropped them into the memory hole
to be devoured by the flames. – George Orwell, 1984

 
We have an invention.  We
invented it. What you do is,
you email us the thing
that you want to forget.
You list every detail.  You
describe in full.  When we
get the email,  we delete it.
We don’t just delete the email.
We delete the thing.  The thing
never happened.  No one involved
will remember it;  no one
who heard the story will
repeat it;  even you yourself
will forget it.
We have done it already.
We are doing it right now.
 

 
 



Photo Credit: US Geological Survey EROS Image Gallery

Copyright 2009,  Jessy Randall

Jessy Randall's collection of poems, A Day in Boyland,  was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award.  Her website is http://personalwebs.coloradocollege.edu/~jrandall.  "The Seductiveness of the Memory Hole" first appeared in The Magazine of Speculative Poetry.

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