The simple act of naming something, if done with enough power and authority, can be enough to bring it into existence and make it real." -Frank Shaw
I am estivating in reflection and getting my life to a place that I feel is healthy in multiple arenas (physical, emotional, spiritual, etc.) to prepare for entering my third decade of life in a good place. As a result, I have been turning a critical eye to each of those areas and continuing on the GMLRC.
Lately, I have been thinking about, talking about, and (in some cases) obsessing over this whole concept of naming. Just recently, I told someone, "You name those things that you love." Funnily enough, my roommate echoed those same words earlier tonight (that's how I knew this should be my blog post)!
I took a creative writing class in undergrad. The professor was a poet (that was his writing expertise). We engage in many other forms of creative writing, but we spent a good chunk of time on poetry. I didn't pick the class for this purpose. In fact, I had been writing poetry for a number of years at that point, but only for my own emotional outlet and not really in any stylized way. He helped me to really appreciate written poetry for the art that it was. He also said something to me that has stuck with me. He said, this is a paraphrase, "Not giving a name to a poem is like not naming a child. So much love and labor has been put into its creation, how could you not name it?" Now, obviously this statement carries with it an assumption of planned parenthood [not the organization] or even unplanned parenthood that is the result of two people who love one another coming together in love and passion.
It's the same with poetry, for me. There are those pieces that I labor over. They were a twinkling in my eye and I worked at giving them life. A lot of times, their names would come to me even before the actual poem. [Case in point, I have had the name of a poem titled "When I Wake Up in the Mourning" etched in my mind for a few weeks, but it has only just been conceived. I am still nuturing it to the birthing stages]. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those poems that swell inside me without warning and are birthed onto the page. Neither is less precious to me and all deserve names.
The Bible tells us that there is power in words. How much more when those words form the name of someone/something? We see that clearly in the Bible whether it was the name of people, places, or things, God was very purposeful in what he called something/someone and so were His people. It is a point of validation. It says, I recognize you, you are unique, and I want you to be distinguished amongst everything else. My roomie's parents so loved her that they gave her a name that is Greek for Manifestation of God. Talk about distinguishment!
Yes... you name those things you love, and in doing so, you empower their existence.
