Doug Ramspeck

Awakening

The memory I carry is of my mother sitting
in a lawn chair in the dark of the yard beneath 

brooding stars. Her cigarette is a beacon.
Her cigarette is a lantern. And she is saying 

she sees the world through a crow’s eye.
And she is saying she is tired of the curfew 

of the body, of the way the hours grow smaller
and smaller inside the wheel. And the sound 

of her voice works its way into my body.
And my mother becomes the rough garment 

the hours know to wear. And the years
become the smoke floating above her, 

the white tube of the cigarette bouncing
its baton between her fingers.

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Doug Ramspeck is the author of ten poetry collections, two collections of short stories and a novella. His most recent book, Smoke Memories, received the Lena Shull Book Award. Individual poems have appeared in journals that include The Southern Review, Kenyon Review, Slate, The Sun and The Georgia Review.