The Names
Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.
A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,
And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,
I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened,
Then Baxter and Calabro,
Davis and Eberling, names falling into place
As droplets fell through the dark.
Names printed on the ceiling of the night.
Names slipping around a watery bend.
Twenty-six willows on the banks of a stream.
In the morning, I walked out barefoot
Among thousands of flowers
Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears,
And each had a name --
Fiori inscribed on a yellow petal
Then Gonzalez and Han, Ishikawa and Jenkins.
Names written in the air
And stitched into the cloth of the day.
A name under a photograph taped to a mailbox.
Monogram on a torn shirt,
I see you spelled out on storefront windows
And on the bright unfurled awnings of this city.
I say the syllables as I turn a corner --
Kelly and Lee,
Medina, Nardella, and O'Connor.
When I peer into the woods,
I see a thick tangle where letters are hidden
As in a puzzle concocted for children.
Parker and Quigley in the twigs of an ash,
Rizzo, Schubert, Torres, and Upton,
Secrets in the boughs of an ancient maple.
Names written in the pale sky.
Names rising in the updraft amid buildings.
Names silent in stone
Or cried out behind a door.
Names blown over the earth and out to sea.
In the evening -- weakening light, the last swallows.
A boy on a lake lifts his oars.
A woman by a window puts a match to a candle,
And the names are outlined on the rose clouds --
Vanacore and Wallace,
(let X stand, if it can, for the ones unfound)
Then Young and Ziminsky, the final jolt of Z.
Names etched on the head of a pin.
One name spanning a bridge, another undergoing a tunnel.
A blue name needled into the skin.
Names of citizens, workers, mothers and fathers,
The bright-eyed daughter, the quick son.
Alphabet of names in a green field.
Names in the small tracks of birds.
Names lifted from a hat
Or balanced on the tip of the tongue.
Names wheeled into the dim warehouse of memory.
So many names, there is barely room on the walls of the heart.
*This poem is dedicated to the victims of September 11 and to their survivors.
poem by Billy Collins
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Related quotes
Not Every Poem Knows How To Say Its Own Name Properly
NOT EVERY POEM KNOWS HOW TO SAY ITS OWN NAME PROPERLY
Not every poem knows how to say its own name properly-
There are poems that have no name
And poems that are named by others who have not written them-
There are poems whose names make them what they are
And poems whose names contradict and belie them-
Many poems have their first lines as their names
And these poems often are as memorable as one line only-
Great poems and good poems can be nameless
Or can have unforgettable names.
Not every poem knows how to say its own name properly -
Poems are poems are poems
And names are names are names
And sometimes they meet and are one
And live happily ever after-
But there are times when perhaps
They never should have met each other at all.
Poems have their names
And names have their poems
But sometimes they love each other
And truly are one.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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I'm very influenced by landscapes, not so much the way places look as the way the names sound. In this country we've got so many cultures, and the place names - the Spanish names and the Indian names, which are so incredibly musical.
quote by Emmylou Harris
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Vicious Games
I never knew
How much I loved you
I never knew
How much I cared
So I played
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
I was afraid
To go under
Afraid to see
When I closed my eyes
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
I never knew
How much I loved you
I never knew
How much I care
I just played
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
Now that youre gone
And you have left me
I had to learn
I had to learn how much it hurts
To play those vicious games
Vicious games, vicious games
Different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
Different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
Different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
Different names, different names
song performed by by Yello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Vicious Games
I never knew
How much I loved you
I never knew
How much I cared
So I played
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
I was afraid
To go under
Afraid to see
When I closed my eyes
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
I never knew
How much I loved you
I never knew
How much I care
I just played
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
With different names, different names
Now that youre gone
And you have left me
I had to learn
I had to learn how much it hurts
To play those vicious games
Vicious games, vicious games
Different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
Different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
Different names, different names
Vicious games, vicious games
Different names, different names
song performed by by Yello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I Want My Name So Much To Be A Name
I WANT MY NAME SO MUCH TO BE A NAME
I want my name so much to be a name-
But when I am gone
What will that name mean to me?
Your name too
What will it mean
In the great distances?
Names and more names
Only G-d knows.
God has many names
And no name
And only One Name
Why should I insist so much
On my own name?
When only God can know
All the Names
Even God’s own.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Faces & Names
Faces and names, I wish they were the same
Faces and names only cause trouble for me
Faces and names
If we all looked the same and we all had the same name
I wouldnt be jealous of you or you jealous of me
Faces and names
I always fall in love with someone who looks
The way I wish that I could be
Im always staring at someone who hurts
And the one they hurt is me
Faces and names, to me theyre all the same
If I looked like you and you looked like me
Thered be less trouble you see
Faces and names, I wish theyd go away
Id disappear into that wall and never talk
Talk, not talk
I wish I was a robot or a machine
Without a feeling or a thought
People who want to meet the name I have
Are always disappointed when they meet me
Faces and names, I wish they were the same
Faces and names only cause problems for me
Faces and names
Id rather be a hole in the wall
Looking out on the other side
Id rather look and listen, listen and not talk
To faces and names
If I had a breakdown when I was a kid
I lost my hair when I was young
If you dress older when youre not
As your really age you look the same
If we all looked the same, we wouldnt play these games
Me dressing for you and you dressing for me
Undressing for me
Faces and names, if they all were the same
You wouldnt be jealous of me or me jealous of you
Me jealous of you, me jealous of you
Your face and your name
Your face and your name
Faces and names
Faces and names
song performed by by Lou Reed
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Names Are Special
My names are special, extra special and more,
The need for food is increased by the age and maturity.
Names laugh and cry like certain cookery ingredients
For a rich dish, or a casserole, or a pudding.
Food is eaten from the day that was the first
To the last and final day of your period on this world.
You must accept those with surnames,
And let no snake interfere, just let no adder crawl.
The devils hide their names,
But do not and do not copy them
For your names are not hidden,
For people need you and their attention is on you.
Names are revered, and their calling is exact,
May you leave us and join the brigade of Life.
poem by Naveed Akram
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My Own Names
My names are fed to the choir,
The choristers will lose our space
For the instruction.
The names of our fore-fathers are inscribed
In our hearts, in those hearts is heat.
The pen is sold to the buyer of blasphemy,
He swears against the names I own.
My own job has a penny or two away
From becoming a solid command.
The commands are total and complete,
Fair and happening to the whole choir.
Names will sort out fancy and medicine.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Indian names were either characteristic nicknames given in a playful spirit, deed names, birth names, or such as have a religious and symbolic meaning.
quote by Charles Eastman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Precious Me
My precious names forgive me,
In the sea of death is a police;
The watery wild begs much misery
To disappear, and concoct a little.
My names are like musical notes
Of the sea and the land and the air.
The praised names convince me
That my fathers and mothers are sound,
Some are here, some of us are then fully present.
My name is my friend for all the times,
The divine songs falter after too many times.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Man Gave Names To All The Animals
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal that liked to growl,
Big furry paws and he liked to howl,
Great big furry back and furry hair.
Ah, think Ill call it a bear.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal up on a hill
Chewing up so much grass until she was filled.
He saw milk comin out but he didnt know how.
Ah, think Ill call it a cow.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal that liked to snort,
Horns on his head and they werent too short.
It looked like there wasnt nothin that he couldnt pull.
Ah, think Ill call it a bull.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal leavin a muddy trail,
Real dirty face and a curly tail.
He wasnt too small and he wasnt too big.
Ah, think Ill call it a pig.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.
Next animal that he did meet
Had wool on his back and hooves on his feet,
Eating grass on a mountainside so steep.
Ah, think Ill call it a sheep.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, in the beginning.
Man gave names to all the animals
In the beginning, long time ago.
He saw an animal as smooth as glass
Slithering his way through the grass.
Saw him disappear by a tree near a lake . . .
song performed by by Bob Dylan
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We Are Defended By Those We Do Not Know The Names Of
WE ARE DEFENDED BY THOSE WE DO NOT KNOW THE NAMES OF
We are defended by those we do not know the names of -
And when one is killed
We know the name for a moment,
Before leaving the long memory to the family-
A few it is true – special heroes-
Have stories and names that remain through the years.
But mostly the dead are anonymous
And the wounded and the injured too.
And a country and a people goes on in freedom-
While in this family or that
Which we will always pray we will not be among
Pain and Loss Forever.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Call me what you want
Call me what you want,
You can push me around,
Make fun of me,
Call me names,
All your doing is calling yourself your own family names,
I am the mirror you are the bee,
Whatever you say or do it reflects off of me,
So you can go ahead call me names do whatever makes you happy,
Cause in the end all your doing is hurting yourself cause are nothing but a bully that has a low-life and have nothing better to do but make fun of people.
poem by Jennifer Rondeau
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Names Upon the Stage
Silently covered,
Names I never heard
Floors I never stood,
The holocaust to feel them die,
Lonely
When they cry.
Imagine ancient quilts,
And scripts upon a page.
A silver meadows shadow,
The names upon the stage.
Good to see remembered,
Tears and Life, the same.
Just to many truths,
For such an insane game.
Imagine all the people,
And scripts upon a page.
The blank parade of faces,
And names upon the stage.
poem by Sandra Osborne
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Record Of Mighty Arrest
Recording names of stupor corresponds to success,
The dossier of might, a charter of demand.
We mimic the italics of names all around,
A dossier has been published of one’s cross.
The evidentiary record, the archives, the registry,
All amount to this same collection of names, proper.
Shot at the face, we take in hand and put to notice
Sure ways of arresting and sending to the places suited.
poem by Naveed Akram
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Bridge-life
Bridge-life open the room and pass
Through greenfield upside down.
The air I feel not mine
I the passerby move forward
With open eyes to see
The light multiplicity.
Mine is the room of watertight
If I want to know something
I dipped ding and
Diminish in dim dike.
I am the water I am the light
I am in this world
This world is mine
For convenience
Different names given
To identify temorarily
Diffrent places.
Names are not true
The world is true I am in this world
I am true.
Names are no true
And true names are there
They are true
You can modify
You can change
You cannot modify
You cannot change.
Bridgelife always here
always alltimes to come
The world is alive
So I am.
poem by Gajanan Mishra
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You can change the names
You can change the names
of places and call them,
what you want.
My people who life there,
will still be living there
next year and for many years more.
You can change the personnel
that work for the city
and the inadequate delivery of services
and corruption,
will in time make you
pay a handsome bill.
You can change the names of streets,
and fashion them
to your heroes.
Never could you undo
the acts of those
whose names they originally bared
and everyone that uses them
will still know
what they were called before.
Without fixing the roads
people will remember
about the holes in Slovo street
and the dead robots in Mandela drive,
which will keep them alive
You can change the names of airports
for its better that way,
that the world knows
that they coming
to an new country
that’s has fallen years behind,
from where it was before.
poem by Gert Strydom
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Names Of The Butterfly
the butterfly has a
thousand names
as many as there are languages
and in each even more names:
papillon, paruparo, borboleta, mariposa,
schmetterling, farfalla, fluture, drugelis, sommerfug,
pattampoochi, farasha, prajapathi,
thithili, chocho, hu-tieh
and so on, names a thousand and more
but the silliest name
illogical, unimaginative, and most clichéd
in all the world
is in Plain Jane English:
butterfly…
poem by Raj Arumugam
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Mirror Of Humanity
there is a line
in Jesus's face,
just below His eyes...
and on that line
are written the names
of all the children
in the world
dying of starvation...
there is a line
in Buddha's face,
just below his eyes....
and on that line
are written the names
of all the children
in the world
whose familes have
been killed by the
bombs and bullets.
there is a line
in my own face,
just below my eyes...
and on that line
are written the names
of all the children
in the world
i let down when
i dont do my best,
to stand up strong
for equality and peace.
have you looked in a
mirror lately?
poem by Eric Cockrell
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If I Ever Say How It Happened.
I don’t know how it happens,
It just came like a silent thief,
To steel my heart away,
I found myself that day,
Hiding inside her cute eyes,
She just sneaked in,
Stole my important part,
Now am afraid,
Going home confidently,
If I ever say when!
I don’t know how!
Sometimes we dream of names
Names we never knew,
Sometimes we never meet,
Sometimes it happens,
When it is,
It like nothing like something.
poem by Dickson Mseti
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