Etymology by Robbie Gamble

Etymology

I have come to believe that the colorful
modifiers lugubrious and fecund
were swapped out at birth, because
tonight the spring peepers are joyous
in their chorus, and their exuberant
lovemaking sounds both polyphonic
and slippery, which could only be
described as lugubrious, while fecund

is a word I would want to utter
when the calendar flips to November
and the water heater conks out
and my favorite aunt dies unexpectedly
and the prospects for an impending
election seem abysmal.

*

Robbie Gamble (he/him) is the author of A Can of Pinto Beans (Lily Poetry Review Press, 2022). His poems have appeared in Cagibi, Post Road, Whale Road Review, Salamander, and The Sun. He divides his time between Boston and Vermont.