2 poems
Naming
“Douglas Fir”
or Pseudotsuga menziesii is a misnomer
a false trail—not a true Fir or Pine or Spruce—
Pseudotsuga meaning “False Hemlock”
named after another tree it is not.
Its female pinecones are oblong & scaly
not at all like true Firs. Even its common name
“Douglas Fir,” a falsehood, not identity
but only a lineage of colonialism.
“Douglas” for David Douglas, Scottish botanist
who saw living trees as board lengths—
while his rival, Scottish botanist Archibald
Menzies, provides the epithet, “menziesii.”
Its best name is colloquial, “Coast Douglas Fir”
adding only location, repeating the honorific.
There’s no true Anglo name for this native tree
which predates the predation of white men.
Indigenous peoples used the trees for timber
medicine for maladies, even rheumatism
& the common cold. The tree’s seeds feed
Chipmunks, Mice, Shrews, Squirrels.
Behind my house, huge ragged stumps—
Bark crumbling, torn off—the trees’ ghosts
reach up in the wind—likewise, my name
ghosting my body, a false narrative—
my surname, a scar upon my body
a mark of endurance, but not consent.
My disingenuous body is a silent, tight bud
lost to frost, or an unfurled leaf, or a seed
that may not sprout—unless I name myself—
Houseplant
You must first deceive the leaves into believing
they are not indoors, which may be achieved by the arranging
of mirrors & the careful resettlement of the nameless
plant (because I cannot say its name) so as to articulate
the ways of illness & unhappiness (so as to impress even the Cat)
with its near-death experiences after
a slight over-watering or sudden undressing of leaves—
a naked rebuke of inattention that will tempt you
to all means of rude interventions, but you must not
confuse the plant with yourself & unscrew your desire
to live but instead draw upon the death wish that will free
you to become the caregiver you never wished to be.
Randall Potts is the author of two poetry collections Trickster (Kohl House Poets Series, University of Iowa Press, 2014) and Collision Center (O Books, 1994) as well as a chapbook Recant (A Revision) (Leave Books, 1994). Their work has appeared widely in periodicals such as American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, The Colorado Review, Interim, Poetry Northwest, Beyond Queer Words Anthology 2021, and Ekphrasis Magazine. New work is forthcoming in The Bennington Review. They live in Bellingham, Washington and identify as nonbinary.