Poetry by Cameron Chiovitti

              ​Groveland Media CC



​Sorrow is Not My Name
                     after Ross Gay, after Gwendolyn Brooks
 
I wear Sorrow’s nametag to Walmart-
It is, after all, a very sorrowful place to be.
I dye my hair with Sorrow;
I wash my clothes with Sorrow;
I eat Sorrow every morning for breakfast.
It’s hard to believe I am not Sorrow
When her wings flutter in my digestive tract.
It’s funny how a few letters can change
Sorrow
To Sparrow.
 
Today, I celebrate
Speckled Sparrow’s full belly in my belly.
Celebrate my belly. My smooth
Pressed sunflower stems blossoming.
Sugar plum scars and all. Celebrate
The music my organs play.
My organs worship each other-
Write prayers to each other every week,
Whisper them like sacred constellations.
They illuminate their midnight
So I will never feel alone.
Celebrate how the galaxy chose to keep me.
I must matter if I am still here.
 
I must matter if I am still here.
I need not die today.
 
Today, I pick up new laundry detergent.
This one smells like freshly mowed grass.
My colour is green.
 
I picked my name once.
I thought it was perfect,
Just like my mother did when she picked one first.
Now, I am no longer sure.
Maybe names aren’t chosen but found.
I keep looking in my Sorrow cereal,
But the wheat is too soggy
To make out any letters.
 
What if my name isn’t composed of letters?
What if it’s composed of chocolate bark?
What if it’s composed of cherry blossoms
People row boats and fly planes here
Just to sit and marvel at?
What if it’s composed of la tire-
Snowy maple sap that sings
Sticky sweet fortunes;
Or re-emerging rapids;
Or festival tulips;
Or Lucky Charms chalk streets;
Or Dairy Queen’s reopening;
Or bike tire marks down the driveway;
Or all the skateboards that get bought
But never ridden
Because the exhilaration of possibility
Is already enough;
Or pearl caps and gowns;
Or ruby caps and gowns;
Or the goddamn front lawn,
Blooming weeds,
But still blooming?
 
Inhale. Exhale.
My name is Spring.


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Cameron Chiovitti is a twenty-three-year-old nonbinary Canadian. They’ve been writing since they were a child, but truly delved into poetry at age sixteen. Currently studying creative writing at OCAD University in Toronto, Ontario, Cameron has already been published in She’s Got Wonder, LSTW, mcsway poetry collective’s Heartbreak Museum, and Anti Heroin Chic, among others. Their latest collection, Paint My Skin With Sweetness, is available for purchase on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles.
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