She said, I know you.
I said, "I think you’ve confused me
with someone else."
But she said, You read here, right? John?
"Jon," I corrected, still thinking
she might be talking about
some other guy
but she wasn’t.
I had met her
and we had spoken before
and somehow
I could not remember her
even though she was the kind of creature
I would like to have remembered.

I’ve been meaning to come
to see you play, she said.
"Read," I replied,
"I read poetry."
I meant that, she said
and I believed her.

I didn’t know why she was talking to me
or how she had remembered me.
I didn’t know
how long I could keep up
the conversation with her.
It wasn’t to be much longer.
Goodbye, she told me.

I haven’t seen her since.