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The Mother of All Living Names Names

Here are cleavers, she said,
twayblade, bittersweet,
swamp saxifrage;
over there sprout horehound,
goat’s rue, turtlehead,
wild columbine.
Next are cheeses (she laughed),
milkwort, cracker-crumbs,
sweet pepperbush
and madder and loosestrife,
nits-and-lice, nettle,
pale touch-me-not:
each one a poem or pun.
Say “henbit, puncture
weed, prickly pear”:
each sacred word—hatpins,
skullcap, rattlebox,
Eve’s necklace-pod—
feels on the tongue so right—
like eyebright, fire pink,
red bleeding heart—
that, seed to bud, we love
this garden of names,
our only home.
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J.S. Absher’s second full-length book of poetry, Skating Rough Ground, was published in 2022 by Kelsay Press. His first full-length book, Mouth Work (St. Andrews University Press) won the 2015 Lena Shull Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. His poems have won awards from BYU Studies Quarterly, the journal Dialogue, and the NC Poetry Society and have been nominated several times for the Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net Award. His work has been published or accepted by Triggerfish Critical Review, Tar River Poetry, The McNeese Review, and many other magazines. Absher lives in Raleigh, NC, with his wife, Patti.

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