Joshua Keiter

The words our child
exclaims most confidently
are often the words
we least understand 

Crayon? Care? Cairn?
Crane? Crone? Corn?
Core? Crate? Crave?
Corona? Carry? Crying?

Sometimes with investigation
we identify the word
from a song and even 
adjust lullaby time accordingly

Sometimes we catch ourselves
saying the word in context
which our child must have
mimicked successfully

Sometimes we wonder if
our child is just parroting us
and sometimes we know
she is creating her own language

as all of us take care to do