Emily Patterson

My Daughter, Who Cannot Yet Read, Lists Names of Birds

with the gravity

of liturgy, head bent

over the pages

as if in prayer:

Melon Gold, Diver

Deep, Flipper Fly,

Snow Beak, Feather

Finders, Honey Hawk,

Glow Greens.

Every sacred thing

has a name worth

listening for.

Emily Patterson (she/her) is the author of The Birth of Undoing, forthcoming from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions in 2025, as well as three chapbooks. Her poetry is published or soon to appear in North American Review, SWWIM, Christian Century, CALYX, Literary Mama, The Penn Review, and elsewhere. Emily is a curriculum designer for Highlights for Children and lives with her family in Columbus, Ohio. Read more at emilypattersonpoet.com.