EMILY PÉREZ
EMILY PÉREZ
START WITH SOMETHING YOU
DON’T KNOW
like the atomic weight of earth
or what’s under the tarp on your neighbor’s porch.
Start with the names of twelve species of birds
native to your six years’ home. Start by explaining
the rules of cricket or cribbage, by speaking
a non-Romance language, by being romantic
or Roman. Make your mark
in the black lava sand, the kind you’ve not seen,
make your mark on the cave’s wall.
Makes movies like Julian Schnabel.
Make macarons, make preserves
make hay, make amends while the sun is still shining.
Then, make moonshine for rain or for floods.
Start with your arms round the waist
of one you just met, who smells like someone
you knew. Start with you in costume:
the dance in a dream you must master onstage,
staggering yourself with each grand jeté.
like the atomic weight of earth
or what’s under the tarp on your neighbor’s porch.
Start with the names of twelve species of birds
native to your six years’ home. Start by explaining
the rules of cricket or cribbage, by speaking
a non-Romance language, by being romantic
or Roman. Make your mark
in the black lava sand, the kind you’ve not seen,
make your mark on the cave’s wall.
Makes movies like Julian Schnabel.
Make macarons, make preserves
make hay, make amends while the sun is still shining.
Then, make moonshine for rain or for floods.
Start with your arms round the waist
of one you just met, who smells like someone
you knew. Start with you in costume:
the dance in a dream you must master onstage,
staggering yourself with each grand jeté.
TAXONOMY
“The world is bound by secret knots”—Athanasius Kircher
“The world is bound by secret knots”—Athanasius Kircher
Angler’s loop, arbor knot, adjustable bend, the Albright
special, basket weave, boa knot, blood knot, the Bimini
twist, bunny ears, butterfly loop, bottle sling, bowline,
clove hitch, chain stitch, cow hitch, cowboy bowline,
common whipping, Chinese button, catshank, crown knot,
diamond, diesel, dogshank, double Windsor, dropper loop,
double pile hitch, double figure eight, double overhand
noose, egg loop, eye splice, Eskimo bowline, European
death knot, figure eight, figure of nine, fireman’s chain,
friendship knot, Falconer’s knot, the Flemish bend, Gordian
knot, granny knot, grief knot, ground line hitch, hackamore,
halter hitch, Hoxton knot, hunter’s bend, half blood knot,
icicle hitch, improved clinch knot, jamming knot, jury mast,
knot of Isis, knute hitch, lariat, lark’s foot, lissajous,
lobster buoy, left hand bowline, manharness, monkey’s fist,
munter hitch, nail knot, noose, overhand bend, overhand
loop, Palomar knot, Prusik knot, Poldo tackle, Portuguese
bowline, quick release, racking bend, running highwayman’s,
sheepshank, snuggle hitch, slip knot, surgeon’s loop, square
Turk’s head, trefoil knot, taut line hitch, Tom fool’s knot, two
half-hitches, underwriter’s knot, uni knot, versatackle, vibration
proof, waterman’s knot, west country whipping, Yosemite
bowline, zeppelin bend.
special, basket weave, boa knot, blood knot, the Bimini
twist, bunny ears, butterfly loop, bottle sling, bowline,
clove hitch, chain stitch, cow hitch, cowboy bowline,
common whipping, Chinese button, catshank, crown knot,
diamond, diesel, dogshank, double Windsor, dropper loop,
double pile hitch, double figure eight, double overhand
noose, egg loop, eye splice, Eskimo bowline, European
death knot, figure eight, figure of nine, fireman’s chain,
friendship knot, Falconer’s knot, the Flemish bend, Gordian
knot, granny knot, grief knot, ground line hitch, hackamore,
halter hitch, Hoxton knot, hunter’s bend, half blood knot,
icicle hitch, improved clinch knot, jamming knot, jury mast,
knot of Isis, knute hitch, lariat, lark’s foot, lissajous,
lobster buoy, left hand bowline, manharness, monkey’s fist,
munter hitch, nail knot, noose, overhand bend, overhand
loop, Palomar knot, Prusik knot, Poldo tackle, Portuguese
bowline, quick release, racking bend, running highwayman’s,
sheepshank, snuggle hitch, slip knot, surgeon’s loop, square
Turk’s head, trefoil knot, taut line hitch, Tom fool’s knot, two
half-hitches, underwriter’s knot, uni knot, versatackle, vibration
proof, waterman’s knot, west country whipping, Yosemite
bowline, zeppelin bend.