Saturday, June 18, 2011

No One Remembers Your Name When It's Strange

By Joseph Hesch

I have a name that's all too forgettable,
always mispronounced, misspelled,
and just missed on every level.
My stifled sneeze of a monicker
has been turned on me
by bullying boys, wicked women
and the depressed poet
on the thinking end of this pen.
But it's mine, shared by damn few others
from sea to sea, forest to desert, and H to h.
Even the nameless can be remembered
in their near invisibility--a picture or symbol
attached to history by what
they accomplished, more than by
a plastic placeholder for letters identifying
the substance behind the soubriquet.
So I don't worry too much about whether
you remember my name...
Just remember me.

6 comments:

  1. Enjoyed this write Joe. Great direction to take the prompt. ~ Rose

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  2. Nope, couldn't forget you...nice poem. :)

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  3. I can identify. I have a simple first name, but people can't get it right. Tim always becomes "Jim" or "Kim" or "Ken" . People see only what they want to see, and HEAR only what they want to hear!

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  4. This is one bumbling wanna~be poet that will never forget your name Jack... :) Sorry! Too hard to resist! I was by for another read of Tagged (just gets better!) and I think this response to the prompt is a shining example of Heschism at it's finest. You will not be forgotten dear friend...no matter what you might like to think! point that pen forward!

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  5. Nice. I like the simplicity, the "commonness" of the subject, and the universal applicability. Is there any of us who hasn't disliked our given names at one point or another? And yet, at the end of the day, it's our name and, by thunder, we're going to defend it!

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  6. I wonder how such commonness can create such a peculiar attraction. I love strange names. I like your poem.

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