My Daughter Creates a Taxonomy of Every Little Thing
Birds or rabbits is not a simple question
but we have to choose, likewise
windows or doors, the moon
or the stars. That’s the game
What’s essential, what belongs to you
more than the other? Letters or numbers
yellow or blue, trees or grass?
It’s a surprise and a relief
to reduce the world as if it’s too much
Because after all it is
I take pinecones over seashells
blue over yellow, bees over
butterflies; now a god of logic
now a god of instinct
You take brush over comb
windows over doors
sky over sea
And when we’re done
halving the beautiful world
you ask me for tea
with sugar and honey
And all the birds
come flying back
Jeffrey Hermann‘s work has appeared in Hobart, Pank Magazine, Juked, Houseguest Magazine, and other publications. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2018 by Juked.