Hyperthymesia, , William Louis Hunter V, SRA Reading Lab, and Oscar Wilde

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem

Bill is in the white cardigan. I’m in the dark sweater in the center.

My boyhood friend, Bill Hunter, read through books

As fast as cars race round Daytona. What

Was better yet was those books’ words had hooks:

He answered all the questions. He could strut

Through spelling bees as well, but Oscar Wilde

Could speed read volumes, and then once he’d read

One . . . he had memorized it. That’s all mild,

Though, when contrasted with the ultra dread

Condition, hyperthymesia. That’s

An ailment (?), very, very rare in which

The patient can remember not just stats

But absolutely all, yes, every stitch

Of life that he has ever undergone,

Thus making Bill and Oscar look quite wan.