The Body You Remember
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Consider how it recalls the simplest movements. How it always shoots the right foot first. It never forgets where to hold tight the apex
of a cursive G before rounding her sloping curve. The body never betrays. But how many times have you
confused anticipate with expect, forgotten the name of novels you read, left your keys
in the door, lost your sister’s birthday, your best friend’s last name. Memories flake like dead skin,
carpet the hardwood floors. Your fiftieth birthday settling over your first fight in sixth grade.
No, the body doesn’t betray. Years of use never dulls memory’s blade. Every action embedded through muscle into bone.
It’s still able to unlock every act, But you’ve forgotten how— [End Page 698]
Gary Jackson is the winner of the 2009 Cave Canem Poetry Prize for his first book Missing You, Metropolis, selected by Yusef Komunyakaa. He was born and raised in Topeka, Kansas, and received his MFA degree in poetry from the University of New Mexico in 2008. He was nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Prize and his poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Laurel Review, Blue Mesa Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Literary Bohemian, Magma, and Pilgrimage.
