The nouns come first, when learning how to speak,
for babies, Tarzan, immigrants and all.
(Like God we name, but way beyond a week).
Then when we, aging, start to misplace words,
it’s person-place-or-thing that forms the leak –
the soonest got becomes the soonest lost.
And if you would amuse a toddler, seek
from them a list of nouns they can recall.
That inventory-love’s their prime technique.

(Magic 9)