my name is swamp
my name is house near the swamp
my name is all three letters
spelling the word swamp
my name has only twelve letters
there are many different kinds of swamps
swamps are characterized by saturated soils
during the growing season and standing water
during certain times of the year many
upland creatures depend on the abundance
of food found in lowland swamps
my name is the highly organic soils of swamps
the habitat provided by swamps
the rich deposits of alluvial soil from floods
small eggs of a mosquito hatch inside my body water
my name is large like a bog
or a bird living inside of a bog
or a train passing the swamp
in the middle of the night when I am twelve
I never fall back asleep the sound of a train
is a ghost I put my tongue inside
and my sad mother is listening
and my sad father is listening
and my tall brother is crying
and even the stars listen
I sip the brackish taste of myself
there are two primary ways that a bog can
develop bogs
can form as moss grows over
a lake or a pond and slowly fill it or bogs
can form as moss blankets dry land
and prevents water from leaving
I develop as a bog and grow black elm and wax myrtle beside invasive and
perennial grass blowing in the dark breeze
I feel small things in myself
blowing in the dark breeze
I feel something like my name
in the sad voice of my father
in the dry land in the voice of my sad mother
in the wet blankets like moss
my name is an estuary that people mistakenly call a swamp
my name is fen the most beautiful
type of wetland
a fen is one of the main types of
wetland
the others being grassy marshes
forested swamps
and peaty bogs
along with bogs fens are a kind of mire
my name is a swamp that people mistakenly call a fen
my name is wet like a swamp
and has a dead girl somewhere inside
marshes are defined by wetlands
frequently or continually
inundated with water
characterized by emergent
soft-stemmed vegetation
adapted to saturated soil
conditions
my father is defined as a wetland frequently or continually
inundated with water characterized by emergent
soft-stemmed vegetation
adapted to living with my mother for only so long until they
both become sad
somewhere in boston my tall brother is crying
my name is new house by the reservoir
my name is swamp and is a new house
by the reservoir
my name is reservoir which many believe
is the most alone body of water
in a dark night I go to visit the reservoir
when trains pass slowly over the swamp
in the middle of a night I do not hear them
I am far away by the reservoir
I am far away inside of a swamp
inside of a fen inside of a bog which is a mire
inside of a marsh inside of a reservoir
the swamp was here forever
it was like a moon and then gone
and very wet my name is Joe
I used to live by the swamp
Joe Rupprecht attends Hamilton College where he co-edits the campus literary journal, Red Weather. He writes poetry and other things. He tweets @heterofobe
“I one day hope to become a large swamp” was nominated by NDR for the 2017 Pushcart Prize.