Today I used the NaPoWriMo.net prompt calling for a poem that delves into the meaning of your first or last name. The example was this poem by Mark Wunderlich, appropriately titled “Wunderlich.” I went in a different direction, after finding some meanings of my surname, Mannix, here and here.

Name this

green field after a rainstorm,
the way the clouds cast shadows
over a treeless meadow.
Call the first blooming daisy
little monk, for the way it lifts its
face to the sky, gathers sun like faith.
Mark your place on a well-worn path
with the letter X, crossed sticks or the stems
of two dandelions, so when the next traveller
comes along, O' Mainichin or MacNeice, 
they will see something familiar in the inscription,
knowledge that though the sounds may vary, over the
course of one life or generations, something simple
connects us to this place. Both as important and as plain
as a blue pen, signing us into history.