if I draw you down
the river of my body
through the sanguine crown
will you take the first
breath, and tell me
your name?
sharp light demands you
be named, and while I built you
cell to blood to bone
I have given the name
of the moon to the fox
who fell to earth
I named the sunlight
only to see it swallowed
in foul soot by night
if my voice turns names
to ash, then keep my water
in your throat and sing me
your sea-name.
Jessamyn Fairfield is a poet, scientist, and performer based in Galway whose poems have previously appeared in Crannóg, Consilience, and Poetry Ireland Review. She has been nominated for the Pushcart prize, and longlisted for the Fish Poetry Prize and the Plough Prize.
More work by Jessamyn Fairfield
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