Memory

is Beast that

…menaces

with moist breath

in the nape of my neck

…prowls

with monstrous shapes

of old selves

now painted in lurid colours

of sentimental perfection.

…devours

me into caverns where

I am entombed with sweet dolls

of domestic bliss

…looms

tormenting with lies

about yesterday’s relevance

to my momentary presence.

Eternity is my dance

in the mists of the creature’s breath.

-Padma Menon

In invocatory dance, memory must be relinquished as the preparatory "sacrifice" of the past and the known. It is in this "loss" of memory that dance is birthed.

In Rasa Dance, the archetypal invocation of "loss" of memory is called "Apasmara". This poem is inspired by the dance of Apasmara.