We give our names to things.
This creek is Cobweb Creek,
named for our cat, who is named
for one of the fairies
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream
(Peaseblossom and Mustardseed were too long
And Moth too short).

We called a house
Carapace, and another one
Too Far: too far from where?
Crablike we built the names
around us, giving to Cobweb
Creek an echo of Mustardseed,
giving the closest places
a distance of our own.