ONOMANCY

For Iskandar Haggarty

you know as well as I do / friend /

that names are aspirational / I mean

look at the name I chose for myself /

a step away from divine / little gift from god

minorly wealthy / and then light, of course,

a saint’s name / which is a better

aspiration than hay field / all my parents

wanted for me was allergies / was jumping

between rounded bales / but you / look

what your parents wanted / for you / o defender

o hearty protector / o my dear victorious friend

look how you have made good on the promise

your parents made in your name / o woolen coat /

o broad shoulder easy posture / how you prevail

without intending / your earthy feet settling

me out of the sky / your laugh like a volleyball

shoved under the surface of a pool / o heritage

o noble o proud man / named for a great in a turn

of language / how you lounge with the sun

in your face / propped up on your palms / sentinel /

Teddy L. Friedline (they/he) is a transmasc gay writer. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in Hood of Bone Review, DEAR Poetry Journal, the lickety~split, and elsewhere. Starting this fall he will be an MFA candidate at Chatham University. You can find them on Instagram and on Twitter, both @jadeitebttrdish.