Instructions Before Stuttering
Tread where the name has prepared
A full name full of desire
Clay like plenty
Love is sensitive
In the space of crying
The name goes ahead
To prepare you
Grasp the vessel
With both hands and
Walk slow
A road of red clover
Opens—
Copyright © 2023 by JJJJJerome Ellis. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on June 6, 2023, by the Academy of American Poets.
“I love my stutter, and I like to write devotional poems to it. This is one of those poems. I try to follow the music that runs through the grasses. If I’m remembering correctly, I wrote this poem pretty fast in my notebook. Sometimes I am a perfectionist and I overthink. But sometimes, I can release into something else. I think that something else may be moving through this poem. I’m also trying not to overthink this About This Poem. So I’m stopping here. Now, off to make some pancakes!”
—JJJJJerome Ellis
JJJJJerome Ellis
JJJJJerome Ellis is a proud stutterer and the author of Aster of Ceremonies (Milkweed Editions, 2023), as well as The Clearing (Wendy’s Subway, 2021), winner of the 2022 Anna Rabinowitz Prize.