To be clear: I know using people's names in art is tricky, especially if the art doesn't paint that person in a good light.
But what I mean is this: I'm at a point now where I use my nephew's name, George, in poems because I've written about him enough. As a writer, I don't mind if people interpret our relationship to be something other than auntie/nephew. I don't mind if people read it as mother/child or sister/brother. It doesn't matter to me.
But what are your thoughts as a reader to my naming him instead of specifying our relationship? (I am, of course, using myself as an example, I'm not the only one to use names in art. EG. Taylor Swift's early discography). Would you prefer to know he's my nephew? Is it distracting? Does it take away from the meaning of the poem? Or is it a case by case basis?
I like it. I think specificity is what people really connect to. It makes the poem‘s speaker sound more like a person to me