My Year of Naming
I want to call them what they are:
mesquite bean cucumber beetle coyote melon
crabgrass fall asters fire ants mistflower
yarrow henbit garlic chives
catmint beebalm lantana
& know the tenderness of attention. I revolve
around bad news like a satellite.
The orbit of collective grief, the pull of a stone
in my throat.
I ground myself
as I tend tomato blossoms. I mimic the bee
with the flick of my finger on each yellow star.
I can be obsessive
in my worry. In the way I love,
I can’t help but notice
any shadow or sun beam.
Beloveds, can you hear me
practicing your names?
mesquite bean cucumber beetle coyote melon
crabgrass fall asters fire ants mistflower
yarrow henbit garlic chives
catmint beebalm lantana
& know the tenderness of attention. I revolve
around bad news like a satellite.
The orbit of collective grief, the pull of a stone
in my throat.
I ground myself
as I tend tomato blossoms. I mimic the bee
with the flick of my finger on each yellow star.
I can be obsessive
in my worry. In the way I love,
I can’t help but notice
any shadow or sun beam.
Beloveds, can you hear me
practicing your names?
Laura Villareal is the author of Girl's Guide to Leaving (University of Wisconsin Press, 2022) and the chapbook The Cartography of Sleep (Nostrovia!, 2018). She has received fellowships from the Stadler Center for Poetry & Literary Arts and National Book Critics Circle. Her writing has appeared in Guernica, American Poetry Review, Waxwing, AGNI, and elsewhere