There is a time in summer’s late sunshine 

When the swallows in my belly

Wake up and stretch their wings

So wide that I can feel them on either side of my tummy

Sometimes they make their way down to my toes 

And I find myself walking to the places I remember 

The ones that I can smell

In the violet hours of the evening

Those tumbling times

When memory pushes

Stretches so tight against my button

It breaks through the skin

Burying the smell

Of my mothers coat around my tiny arms