Andrew Calhoun

Recall

I recall your nipples and gravy,
Recall a very wild sky;
Recall a man who walked and said nothing,
It was all a long goodbye.

I recall your eyelashes and fruitcake,
I recall an unhappy dawn;
Recall a gate that was often left open
After the crows were gone.

I recall your sandpaper midnight,
Recall your long billowing dream,
That you let me stand up and lie down in,
That you let me rush between.

I recall your kneecaps and notebook,
Recall the still, dead lake;
Recall the long seasons of rhyming time,
And the front that was not fake.

I recall a shower in Memphis,
Recall a razor in Maine;
Recall a stronger woman who sang
Till tears came down like rain.

Here my tears come haply,
Here the light comes through;
Here I am lost in my own country
With never a breath of you.

With never a breath of your reasons,
Never a taste of your salt;
Turned free from the tyrant hunger
That finds no food but fault.

I am off in the full blue yonder,
Out in the prairie so wild,
Up where the flowers go crazy with blooming
And dance in the mind of a child.

I recall your earlobes and triumph,
The ceiling and hypnotized cat;
I recall great and small and the rise and fall,
From longer ago than that.