On Saturday, I went to the Hello Again Show at Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham. This is the story of Neil Diamond through his songs. Neil Diamond was a great favourite of my mum. She had all his CDs and once, when her house was broken into, was more distraught that they’d stamped on, and broken, one of the CD cases than anything that may have been stolen. We played Hello Again at her funeral in 2017. This poem is about how a song can touch us and bring back memories, happy or sad.

Hello again tears start to fall,

cascade to music’s rhythm,

slideshow casts a shadow,

reaches pain of loss

and all the days, the months

years now fall together,

implode to a single song,

hello, again, hello.

© Liz MacKenzie

The photo is my mum, taken in 2016