The Nominalism of Childhood
“Entities are not to be multiplied beyond necessity.”
— William Ockham
I’m sitting on a tractor inside
a barn, studying the dials,
smelling the oil. I’m raised up
on my father’s lap, turning
the key, backing out.
I’m seeing the tractor as less
of a whole than a vast particular
that I recall in every detail:
the black high wheels
on either side of the metal
seat, the holes in the seat,
the L shaped clutch I cannot
reach, the long steel stick
that changes gears, my father’s
hands on top of mine
around the wheel. I’m driving
down a road that’s no
longer there into an orchard
that’s overgrown. I’m turning
on the lights to see the farm
that disappeared yet still
exists in the yellow beams
of the vintage Ford.