as Jimenez wrote
is to name
to name so clearly
that people cannot help but know
not just tulip
but this tulip
the yellow one
in the outer corner of the garden
at four-thirty in the afternoon
on a Thursday
this tulip
not just a battle
but the soldier who fell in it
or the other who survived
despite heroism
that trapped him for years afterward
nothing he did on purpose
just an action in the moment
no thought of consequences
even though they turned out memorable
and he got a medal
and his general got the credit
and his king will be remembered
that battle
that piece of that battle
and the bandages afterwards
naming that
is the poet's task
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