One Lifeboat Fewer (ROUND 2)

Let's workshop this poem about cherished memories becoming dimmer and less tangible due to the absence of a significant individual who once helped breathe life and meaning into them

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One Lifeboat Fewer

Memories defoliate
into rotting stumps
too soon after that tssk
of the sharing flame—
luminous no longer
to nourish them, if only

with a nudging glance;
to flush and flesh
them out; to verify
or challenge playback
by you: inheritor of this
unexpected poverty.

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