Laura Adrienne Brady

 My First Noun in Irish Gaelic

is ainm—pronounced on 'im—as in the name
lay like a quilt upon him. As in, you spread your body
over him as a way of knowing your own again.
As in, you said without words I see who you are inside
and outside the loose basket of language. As in, you drew
down a rusty zipper and years of sand poured out, mounds
of gaineamh piled upon you both until you could no longer
breathe, and fright pressed hard against every doorway.
As in, the wind then drew back and let out
an exhale so powerful the sand flew up like a stoirm
through the final flickering keys of aspen leaves
and lit the sky on fire above you.

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Laura Adrienne Brady is a writer, educator, and singer-songwriter (known as Wren). Her poems and essays have appeared or are forthcoming in The Iowa Review, Poet Lore, Brevity, EcoTheo Review, and elsewhere. Laura’s latest project Pink Stone is an album of original folk songs and an illustrated companion book set in Washington’s Methow Valley. A graduate of Northern Arizona University’s MFA program in Creative Writing, she currently teaches writing at universities around Arizona and hosts community classes under trees and online. Explore her multidisciplinary work at laureaadriennebrady.com.