Which is French for “beneath veneer,”
this title or my marriage? To remember
is to become a card-carrying member
of the past for as long as it takes to re-elect
your mistakes. Don’t forget to remember,
dreamboat, change is a painful way to stay
the same. My recalled Renault explodes
past the glass factory. My remedial French class
is full of expats wearing cravats. My brain
missed the casting call for Total Recall.
John Bobbit was remembered, but to titillate the past
is disastrous. Mechanics now know Cannes is where
the undead weekend. Remember Back to the Future,
when a death drive could repair your sweet ride?
My bit part in Memento flopped on the floor
of the editor’s abattoir. My Renault’s
at the factory being fitted for a Palme d’Or.
Which is French for: I’m going back for you,
by parkour atop ruins, over dunes,
a rattlesnake skin my windbreak.

Jeramy Dodds won the 2009 Trillium Book Award for Poetry, and made the 2009 Griffin Prize short list for his debut collection, Crabwise to the Hounds.