my memory trophy is the heaviest thing 

containing all the density of my experience 

in the night sounds of the open dessert

in the rareness of privacy

after a long watch in a tower spent between daydreams

the joy of a morning shave and a hot shower without mortars

a hot meal and to be free of sand for a short time

my mothers phone voice today

writing a check in some tent for a block of contraband

taking 7 years to get a Bachelors degree etc.

so many memories crowded together 

and like old friends they’ll show up from time to time to check in

so I built an armature with 4 arms rising up to a brass plumb bob 

letting its pull register the gravitational center of its mass down to one point

made to hover just above the stainless  

I was there so I can pick which letters are burnt in well and good

letting a white hot laser burn so accurately 

 engraving its measure, and encasing it in wood and steel thats solid and stable

and when I added up 3 years + 2 weeks + 5 days since deployed from home

I gave my own memory balance, texture and significance 

a new artifact to be read and understood and reimagined

to be known when I’m not there