An Act of Imagination

"By digesting the past,
rather than pretending to lose it,
one can transform it."
-- Aviva Zornberg

The past, a canker sore massaged with the tongue, raw and bothersome or turned on spindle, examined and unwound.

The past stuck in a drawer and locked with a cruciform key.

The past, expunged, deleted, as if one could erase all traces.

Or setting the past on a linen napkin, displaying it on a crystal dish, holding it up to the light to watch light refract off cut facets.

Or cutting it into bite sized pieces, slivers of taffy to chew and draw out, stretching each strand until gossamer thin.

Or placing the past in a kaleidoscope and turning and turning the barrel to view.

Then, perhaps, transformation begins.