Marie. I name her. Daughter #6

Daughter Ghazal: Marie. I name her.

My daughter is here and everything else can wait. I name her.

I rock her I nurse her I claim her and though it is late, I name her.

Old men will sing her old songs on the stairs like they did for me

With the words just a little off and a limping gait, while I name her.

My mini-me, my little Marie, my child of a hundred hand-me-downs

She holds her breath while I unseal her fate: I name her.

The beginning becomes the end and the rubber band slips

She claps for the trees and the grass while they susurrate. I name her.

This baby of butter and bitterness rolls off my tongue

I catch her and all of her ancestresses elate. I name her.

I am Marie. She is Marie. We are Marie. We throw thunderbolts

The heaviest things have no weight. I name her.