[…] I’m saying your name
in the grocery store, I’m saying your name on
the bridge at dawn. Your name like an animal
covered with frost, your name like music that has
been transposed, a suit of fur, a coat of mud,
a kick in the pants, a lungful of glass, the sails
in wind and the slap of waves on the hull
of a boat that’s sinking to the sound of mermaids
singing a song of love, and the tug of a simple
profound sadness when it sounds so far away.
Here is a map with your name for a capital,
here is an arrow to prove a point: we laugh
and it pits the world against us, we laugh
and we’ve got nothing left to lose, and our hearts
turn red, and the river rises like a barn on fire.
in the grocery store, I’m saying your name on
the bridge at dawn. Your name like an animal
covered with frost, your name like music that has
been transposed, a suit of fur, a coat of mud,
a kick in the pants, a lungful of glass, the sails
in wind and the slap of waves on the hull
of a boat that’s sinking to the sound of mermaids
singing a song of love, and the tug of a simple
profound sadness when it sounds so far away.
Here is a map with your name for a capital,
here is an arrow to prove a point: we laugh
and it pits the world against us, we laugh
and we’ve got nothing left to lose, and our hearts
turn red, and the river rises like a barn on fire.
— Richard Siken, from “Saying Your Name” (via weissewiese)
