The BlueIris Semi-Nightly Poetry Break, 12/16/07

[BlueIris]

"Naming Them"

Years later it occurred to me
that I should have named them
after the counties they were born in,
and that perhaps it had occurred to me
years earlier, when my youngest, Lane,
born in her own Oregon territory, was named.
Nor did it occur to me then
to think six years ahead, to think
of them as first graders learning to print.
So many letters in Leighton
when I should've made it Layon for him.

Not a lot occurred to me in those years.
First thing my sister said to me after my second was,
"Hunter?! Why not just put a gun in the boy's hand
and show 'im Robocop before he can walk!"
Which, of course, never occurred to me,
I just thought of hunting
for a job or hunting for a lost sock,
and then finding it. Hoping the whole big world
would be like home, and occur to them that way.

—Beth Runciman

[BlueIris]

1. Kick.

[BlueIris]

2. Kick.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. My dear BlueIris...

A nice, quiet, thoughtful poem!

Thank you, sweetie... :hug:

[BlueIris]

4. Sure thing.

I thought people would like this one.

[RetroLounge]

5. Very nice!

Thanks!

:hi:

RL

[BlueIris]

6. Hello, you.

Thanks for reading!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

7. To know the true name of a thing

is the beginning of understanding it.

Thanks.

[BlueIris]

8. No, thank you!

Great insight.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. ~

:blush:

:hi:

thanks for doing these. I don't always comment, but they are the highlight of my day here. Now that Retro is doing them as well, I feel doubly blessed. :hug:

[BlueIris]

10. Awwwww. nt

[ThomCat]

11. This is a nice subject for poetry.

Names and the naming of people/things just seems like a very poetic thing to write about.

Did this come from a collection of poems about family? It seems like it's part of a series. :)

[BlueIris]

12. I dunno. I found it in an old poetry quarterly (from the mid-'90s)

that I had lying around.