Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “The Zeignarnik Effect” by Hollay Ghadery.

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The Zeignarnik Effect*

By Hollay Ghadery

For the record,  

it’s not the Fat Cities,  

beers on tap,  

closing shift blues 

or names of regulars 

I remember most—not  

even the one  

who brought me  

bear meat from his 

hunting trip, even though 

I’d said, No,     no,  

thank you. And  

no,     I won’t eat that 

not because it’s      meat 

but because it’s.    bear 

and how he’d looked 

puzzled  

a moment before 

breathing, Ahhhhhhh, 

I see. But makwa won’t 

hold survival  

against you. 

What I remember is 

the busiest  

weekend of summer,   

tables packed, my 

gilded reflection floating  

in the bar’s l o n g, disilvered 

mirror while I poured  

drinks, left them huddled  

and sweating on the  

glass rail 

how I’d said  

nothing,       not even 

No thank you, 

when a waitress  

put in an 

order and said, Don’t 

rush this one.  

Not like Indians  

fucking tip 

anyway 

*Named after Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik, the Zeignarik effect refers to the theory that people remember unfinished or interrupted tasks better than completed ones. Many people experience intrusive thoughts and anxiety that come with these unfinished tasks that have the effect of reinforcing memory. 

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Copyright © Hollay Ghadery

Hollay Ghadery is a multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, is scheduled for release with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children’s book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027. Hollay is a co-host of Angela’s Bookclub on 105.5 FM, as well as HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist and the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at www.hollayghadery.com.

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