The article analyzes the technique of including outdated, unused words of the Russian language, typical of M. Tyomkina's book of verses "Unvisual Aids". Such linguistic "memes" work as triggers for the self-reflection of the lyrical heroine, who has lived in America for a long time; at the same time, feeling the inextricable connection of her inner self with her mother's tongue, its meanings, phobias, and norms. The Russian words, popping up in her memory, sometimes colloquial, sometimes bookish, or professional-philological ones, form the depth of personality that cannot be realized in everyday life, in business and everyday conversations in English. The article shows that these words, which are "deeply drowned" in her "pre-memory" do not fulfill cognitive or communicative functions, but only psychological and poetic ones, acting as metonyms or "unvisual aids" for self-reflection. Immersion into the lexical and grammatical fields of the native language meanings plays the role of "sequence of times" (Tyomkina), the sequence of linguistic, historical and existential elements. This constitutes the originality of the author's cultural multi-identity. In rejecting the classical form of the Russian verse, Tyomkina develops the lyrical function of poetry through her special "recitative".