Naming Things
The Neander Valley
outside of Dusseldorf
is named after
Joachim Neander
a German poet
who liked to wander
lonely as a German poet
through this now eponymous valley
unaware that beneath his feet
lay the numb skull and bones
of a species whose name
would become synonymous
with brute stupidity:
Neanderthal,
named after the valley
which was named after
Joachim Neander.
That’s what we get to do,
name things
and judge their worth
we even got to name ourselves:
Homo Sapiens
Wise Man
and if that’s not hubris….
This poem first appeared in The Galway Review.
It also appeared a while back in Open Link weekend over at earthweal
Stopdraggingthepanda 
Yes, it’s more than a little ironic isn’t it?
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Oh yes, none so foolish as those who consider themselves wise. Good one, Jim.
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It gets better! The Neander family had changed their name from Neumann, i.e. New man…..
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The plot thickens!
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And women? Witchy, I’d say. (K)
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A poem that takes target at my favorite target is always golden in my book! Well done!
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Thank you, much appreciated!
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We also have bad hearing: The angel said Dumbo Sapiens observing us race off cliffs shouting Live Free or Die. Thanks for bringin’ it Jim — Brendan
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Thanks Brendan, have a great Christmas or the best you can under the circumstances and thanks for earthweal! Keep it up…JIM
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Names are important, magical even, and should be chosen carefully, but nobody can predict what a name will be associated with when the original meaning is forgotten. How many kids are called Adolf these days?
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That is a good question!
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Dear JIM,
With your permission, I would love to include this poem in my Anthropocene Hymnal project:
https://experimentsinfiction.com/2021/02/20/the-anthropocene-hymnal-call-for-submissions/
I can of course credit The Galway Review with first publication. If you would like to take part, please drop me a line at experimentsinfiction@protonmail.com.
Kind regards,
Ingrid
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Well, I hadn’t seen this gem the first time around, but we’ll done! As a family historian, I find the naming of places to be evidentiary. Sometimes it does wind up rather ironic in ways that could never have been foreseen.
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