Hiram Larew · Smokey Arms Aug 2023
Lately I’ve been amazed by my father’s memory
As I remember him —
He could recall as brightly as the skin of an apple
how his father was certain but quiet.
He knew by heart the snow on those very steps where
he first spied my mother
He also had an uncanny way
of finding where the smallest creeks cross
in West Virginia
In fact more and more
it’s almost as if he’s been
lifted up in the chilly air by some smokey arms
as a favor
More and more he seems to be sitting
on the edge of a bed in boxers
or is stoking a nearby fire telling stories.
More and more he’s very sure
like me
of people even before he’s ever met them
and is squirrely eyed about
anyone in power
That’s all to say that there’s nothing
my father wouldn’t have done
For bright foggy mornings like these —
Ones that start heading out one way
but then turn around on a damn dime
To go back
for whatever it was
that was forgotten.
Hiram Larew is the founder of Poetry X Hunger: Bringing a World of Poetry to the Anti-Hunger Cause, Larew has had poems published recently in The Iowa Review, Poetry Scotland's Gallus, Contemporary American Voices and West Trade Review. His latest collection, Patchy Ways, was released in 2023 by CyberWit Press. www.HiramLarewPoetry.
Editorial Art by Dilara Sümbül
