Nomenclature
After Safia ElhilloYour mother’s mother came from Igboland
though she did not teach your mother her language.
We gave you your name in a language we don’t understand
because gravity is still there
even when we cannot see it in our hands.I ask your mother’s mother to teach me
some of the words in hopes of tracing
the shadow of someone else’s tongue.The same word in Igbo, she tells me, may have four different
meanings depending on how your mouth bends around
each syllable.
























