How to Write Your Name

atop sun-warmed sheepskin,

static blurs your goose-down head.

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wiggle here    on your back

testing balance, catch your feet.

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in the years before you    know

the miles they traversed...

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count your toes, twine them

with curious, silky fingers

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and wonder at your heels,

smooth caps of untread feet.

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in the years before you    trace

maps in the parchment of your soles.

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butterfly your knees near your ears,

form ‘oh’  and taste the tiny big toes.

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mama’s coos and your grin swirl

and mix    giggle as she cups your feet.

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in the years before you   count

the stamps they left in riverbeds.

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three months back, she inked

those tangelo soles pressed them

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in pages for you to remember.

so nuzzle mama’s cheek    your

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warm peachy fuzz

into the hollow of her ear.

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moments like this fetter close,

an ache to the center of her heart

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and they will sit within a secret space

and she will always remember.

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in the years before you   hold

the sun in your palms and remember

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this is when you wrote your name.