imagine that the trees have names
& pet names & ancestral names
& names only their mothers
call them & names that calm them
& names that summon their head
back home.

imagine that the fishes have
names & every plankton & every
alga & cows too & birds & bees
& the world full of names.

imagine the tree-mothers calling
out the names of fallen trees & fish-mothers
& bee-mothers & the universe
an echo of names.

imagine a boy screaming
for his mother
& a mother screaming for her children
& the world screaming
& all the screaming are names
& all the names are dead names.

imagine the name the gun calls the person
about to be killed. imagine the names
the man holding the gun calls his target.
imagine the man holding the gun
calling his victim by the name
his mother calls him & his pet name
& the name that calls his head
back home.

imagine that every dead name
became trees & every tree
has an ancestral name & pet name
& name only his mother calls him
& name that calms him & name
that calls his head back home.
imagine every name is a home
& a tree & a screaming universe.