It could have been an autumn scene in a music video
where leaves are falling in reverse, but instead of leaves
are keys, library books, business shoes and other items of clothing.
Some of these items organise themselves into flocks
some items just follow the cables of the old trolley buses
which will be gone in 2017, and before long forgotten.
Birds fly alongside the grace notes of socks, alongside business
shirts that open their necks. An entrail
of scarf is caught in a tree. It is as if we exist
apart from the things we heft daily
in bags and panniers. As if all things we forgot
are taking it upon themselves to be remembered.

There is a feeling of lightness in the streets.
Even as the cars begin to cut up the cyclists again
and even as a bus nearly takes out an aunty
going up the Terrace, there is a feeling of
sweat expressing itself freely on our backs,
for today, we carry less. We will not have to go home
to gather up what we left.

By midday, most flight paths are clear of forgotten items.
Only a few pairs of socks remain airborne.
There is also a pair of fresh underpants and once a knitted jersey
with a horse on it but these pass quickly by.

The last item travelling is sighted at about 2.30pm:
James Brown’s trousers, descending from the high cloud
over the Mount Street Cemetery.

[The other day, the poet and cyclist James Brown forgot his trousers and had to teach half of his poetry workshop at Victoria University in his cycling gear until his trousers were delivered. I started thinking how great it would be if everything you’d forgotten just pursued you of its own volition. It’s tiring carrying stuff around all the time, especially when you commute on a bike.]