There Is No Name Yet by Dorothea Lasky

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend April 1, 2016   There Is No Name Yet   Dorothea Lasky

Until I find a name I will not put it in the soul calculator I will leave it free and open and unnamed And not limit my expectations for the kind of person That goes in one direction of the wind I will keep all lines of the wind open And place all my days free and empty And re-envision what it means to be unencumbered Or bereft Not crying but the expanse of numbers That go beyond the grave to what is left And it may be true I said it could be true That the sunny days do stick to walls And then enter you It may be true that the purple bells do chime Everyday you let them It may be true that the sweet juice I put across my lips would not be my last But that the nights could get better and better Until the evil is banished until the day When the sun would crush it anyway It was true without a set of things like letters It was true the air was free and open And I saw things as they were Without violence For the first time            Copyright © 2016 Dorothea Lasky. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “I think naming is a very strange thing. We name books, babies, boats, planets, monuments, buildings, towns, chemical elements, food, and animals—we give lovers and friends nicknames to show our devotion. A name really doesn’t matter until it does, and this poem is about that.” —Dorothea Lasky   Dorothea Lasky is the author of Rome (Liveright/W. W. Norton, 2014). She teaches at Columbia University's School of the Arts and lives in New York City. Poetry by Lasky   Rome (Liveright/W. W. Norton, 2014)    "On Gifts for Grace" by Bernadette Mayer "Spirit" by Maggie Nelson "The Truth the Dead Know" by Anne Sexton Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038