TO NAME IS TO CAUSE TO EXIST

So I place your name under my tongue for a homeopathic dose.

Everything dies, so I forget your hands were ever alive on my young skin.

My country has been at war all my adult life, so I order a drink.

Life is like the head on this beer, so I drink fast.

My, how you’ve grown, so I sit down in a loud, empty room to wait for you.

The coldness of passing years hits me so I go back outside where the salt air is full of stories, lift my face to the bitter wind and hum a low note for you,

For me,
for every speck of dust.