"another naming" 

Erin Pinkham

another naming

you taught me how to say mozzarella / like the way your mother did and the way I too / was supposed to teach our children / i still can’t / say your name / my therapist says it would do me good / write you down / give this you a name / as if I have not given / you enough already write a letter / to this jaw-breaker / toothache / shimmy down my spine / canker sore / a wart / a boot / a sewn button / bruised melon / a buzzard / who swallowed my eyes / only to spit / out / cat-eyed marbles into empty sockets / or a skinny shape shifting shadow man born / in wintertime / only visits in lucid dreams or in letters / sliding under my door / maybe i will name you / like the way i named you love / or the way you named me fuckoff / sister still calls you / by your given / name and father still calls you a good / christian boy / and I ought / to find me another and mama / cannot decide between / the name s.o.b / a son-of-a-bitch / I’ll-ring-his-neck-if-I-see-him-again-that-son-of-a-bitch / mimaw also named you once / in line / at the grocery store: bony knuckled / deep-socket-brown-eyed-gap-tooth-motherfucker / even your grandfather named you / not-a-man / not-an-Italian-man can’t finish / his meal not-a-man / and maybe I’ll call you / the name your mother murmured / to me that one night / i am so sorry, erin. / mouth held open, still.

Published October 13, 2025

Erin Pinkham

Erin Pinkham (she/they) is a queer poet from North Texas. Their work focuses on girlhood, and queer issues inspired by life in the south on her family's tomato farm. They are a recent Poetry MFA graduate of the University of Arkansas Program in Creative Writing and Translation. They will often be heard gushing about anime, spellcasting, her dog Willie, pink velvet fabric, and the Korean boyband, BTS. 

"another naming" by Erin Pinkham is also available to stream and share on dogyard mag's podcast "The Bark at dogyard" on YouTube and Spotify <3