poem

 Naming

You’re not lost

You’re right here

Look— your stack of unread books

Your pile of old scrubs

If you feel lost

It’s usually just because

You’ve haven’t the words

To describe where you are 

The act of naming 

Is always orienting

Adam was granted this power

So he would know he'd left the Garden of Eden

You don’t have to force 

Old tongues on new worlds

Take a deep breath 

And let your tongue twist the air

Make a list 

Of all your neologisms

Construct a grammar

And a world emerges you can map 

In old growth forests

The trees and mosses

Already know what to call you 

5/25/23