Monday, April 28, 2025

dada


I know dada is never  
a fatherless child’s first word—  
but second? Third? Fourth?  
Have I ever said dada
in thirty-seven years,  
outside the art movement?

Wasn’t I already speaking  
in full sentences, whole thoughts,  
when a father-shaped substrate,  
like compost drawn  
from the bottom of the pile,  
surfaced as I turned it?

What word could I reach for now  
to name him?  
Not dada.

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