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May 25th, 2013 - we have 234 poets, 8,025 poems and 56,671 comments.
Stephen Dunn - Named

He'd spent his life trying to control the names
	   people gave him;
oh the unfair and the accurate equally hurt.

Just recently he'd been a son-of-a-bitch
	  and sweetheart in the same day,
and once again knew what antonyms

love and control are, and how comforting
	   it must be to have a business card -
Manager, Specialist - and believe what it says.

Who, in fact, didn't want his most useful name
	  to enter with him,
when he entered a room, who didn't want to be

that kind of lie? A man who was a sweetheart
	   and a son-of-a-bitch
was also more or less every name

he'd ever been called, and when you die, he thought,
	   that's when it happens,
you're collected forever into a few small words.

But never to have been outrageous or exquisite,
	   no grand mistake
so utterly yours it causes whispers

in the peripheries of your presence - that was
			his fear.
"Reckless"; he wouldn't object to such a name

if it came from the right voice with the right
	   amount of reverence.
Someone nearby, of course, certain to add "fool."

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Added: Feb 21 2003 | Viewed: 3506 times | Comments and analysis of Named by Stephen Dunn Comments (15)

Named - Comments and Information

Poet: Stephen Dunn
Poem: Named
Poem of the Day: Sep 4 2008

Comment 15 of 15, added on May 25th, 2013 at 9:01 AM.
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Comment 14 of 15, added on May 14th, 2013 at 3:12 AM.
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Comment 13 of 15, added on May 14th, 2013 at 12:15 AM.
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5X0xsz I cannot thank you enough for the article post.Really looking forward to read more. Cool.

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