'don't forget me' a poem by Salem Paige

don’t forget me

my work shouts it, the way i
trace myself onto the page,
a ghost of me that i liberate
to the merciless digital highway.

i beg my name to have weight,
i picture it engorged in everyone’s skull,
don’t forget me
they say
it just takes one line one work one poem
a Masterpiece
(they forget to mention how many attempts
it takes to make a Masterpiece)

but how do you know
it’s your Masterpiece

is it when it makes
someone feel something
(i just want
to make someone
feel something
don’t forget me
could that be all it takes
to be remembered?)
does it have to make
many people feel
many somethings, is it
entrenched in numbers
(how many eyes it can reach)
or the depth of the meaning
(what is depth? a connection?
i want to make a connection)
i want to make someone
feel understood
don’t forget me
but each attempt is a risk
that turns up no dice and
i’m running out of quarters
while the numbers
on my desktop
have blurred.

my art is my sustenance,
gasoline on the flame
of my ignited perseverance.
i hang heavy across each stanza, i
lean on art’s hospitable freedom,
without which i would
surely plummet into
a premature grave -
would that make
my work known
don’t forget me
or have i yet
to experience
the experience
that inspires
a Masterpiece, am i far too young
or do i not have
one in me at all,

and how do i find out?

and how do i make sure
you don’t forget me?