Funnily enough, I never begin with North America.

Instead, I settle on astray Oceania; Kiribati is closest to The Americas, 

Fiji water, Samoa like American Samoa, 

then Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Nauru, Palau, because I like to rhyme, 

and then I remind myself that I’ve forgotten Tonga time after time.

Then there's the Solomon Islands and the Marshall Islands,

then Micronesia– technically it’s The Federated States of Micronesia—

but I need only type Micronesia for it to count on JetPunk

before I get to obvious Australia and New Zealand. 

Then Asia bleeds into the mix, as I pick out 

Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, and Papua New Guinea (more Guineas to come)

along with their small sidekicks, Brunei, East Timor, and Singapore.

Officially sewing the coat on Asia, I pick off Japan, North Korea, South Korea, 

round to the south, where Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and - far West - Cyprus

are inked into the Indian. 

Starting at the southeastern corner, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bhutan Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal, 

those are all kind of a blur, but within a miscellaneous clump, I know them all.

Checkpoint India, followed by all the “stan”s:

Afghanistan and Pakistan are a pair;

Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are twins;

Tajikistan and Turkmenistan are sisters,

and Uzbekistan is uniquely and iconically alone. 

I fill out the eastern half with China and Mongolia, now onto Iran and Iraq.

A trio of A’s I recall further North: GeorgiA, ArmeniA, Azerbaijan. In that order.

Trickling down there’s Israel and Lebanon— larger in size: Jordan and Syria,

Saudi Arabia takes up most of the Western section, then United Arab Emirates,

Tiny triplets, Qatar, Kuwait, and baby Bahrain.

Yemen and Oman, almost moving on;

finally, Turkey. I used to think it was in Europe.

What is in Europe are Norway, Sweden, and Finland, 

Which I recall through the acronym standing for  “Not Safe For Work”, even though there is nothing for W. 

Then I pick off the islands: Iceland, Ireland, United Kingdom.

Then I remember Greenland, which isn’t a country, but a product of Denmark, 

cross that off the list.

Back to the far European east, Estonia, and her nieces Latvia and Lithuania 

along with BelaRUS, I remember is next to RUSsia. 

Ukraine then Moldova, which reminds me of the little countries peppering the continent:

Malta and Monaco are sisters;

Vatican City and San Marino both have cliche city name styles;

Luxembourg and Lichtenstein are cousins,

and then Andorra I list last.

Obvious big countries are colored in, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain, France, Germany, and Poland.

Filling in the holes there’s The Netherlands, Belgium (almost forgot that one), and Switzerland. 

With that S as my guide, I pick up Slovenia and Slovakia - Czechia because it used to be Czechoslovakia,

followed by Austria and Hungary, which used to be Austria-Hungary.

There’s Croatia - where my last name derives from - that gently cups Bosnia & Herzegovina;

North Macedonia marks the center of the “ia”s which fill a lot of the southeastern corner:

Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, and 

Albania, which has Kosovo and Montenegro capping it off.

I mark myself halfway, as I begin Africa with it’s extremities:

Madagascar, Seychelles, Comoros, Mauritius, São Tomé and Príncipe and Cape Verde.

Across the top, there's Morocco, Algeria, and Libya - with Tunisia wedged between— Egypt, 

Sudan and South Sudan.

Going toward the Western cliff, Mali and Mauritania, 

Senegal wraps tightly around Gambia, with Guinea and Guinea Bissau wedged together underneath.

Miscellaneous Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burkina Faso,

then Ivory Coast leads the line of Ghana, Togo, and Benin.

Filling in the empty space are twins Niger and Nigeria with their good friend Chad.

The final Guinea would be Equatorial Guinea, near Gabon and Cameroon, 

Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Central African Republic. We love the word “Republic”.

The rest begins with the three E’s. Eritrea, Ethiopia and Eswatini.

The first two further north compliment Somalia and Djibouti,

The last one is down south, puncturing South Africa with Lesotho: its partner in crime.

Back up to Uganda, mother of Rwanda and adopted daughter Burundi,

neighboring them is Kenya,

down the road Tanzania, Mozambique and Malawi;

fill in the last empty space, Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 

Now I’m at the final stretch with the two countries I know best,

I’m straight to the Caribbean Islands, so small they’re the hardest to remember.

They like to come in catchy pairs:

Antigua and Barbuda, Trinidad and Tobago, 

Dominica and Dominican Republic, (those last two are separate).

Then the Caribbean Royal Family: Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines,

then there’s the official Grenada— and lastly Barbados

before I pick up prime vacationland: Jamaica and the Bahamas;

Cuba and Haiti are back-to-back.

I’m rewarded with my hometown in the United States of America.

North is Canada, south is Mexico, 

with its neighbors, so they go:

Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, 

off the trail is El Salvador, 

back on task with Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, which canals into South America.

Around the top, Perú, Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, 

and French Guiana - which is only part of France - with Suriname sandwiched between.

Bolivia sounds like Bola Viva (a song from Rio) which takes place in Brazil,

my favorites are Uruguay and Paraguay, 

and finally, I close in on the southernmost pair, Argentina and the wall of Chile.