Aliyha
I first decided I hated my name freshman year.
Aliyha- six letters, three syllables that translated to
Too long, strange.
How unique?
Emphasis on the question mark.
Aliyha became Ah-lie-ah
Even when I told the truth
Because Aliyha isn't supposed to be spelled like that.
Aliyha became Ali, or Lu Lu, or Alicia,
Because three syllables we're much too long.
I decided, after that, that if no one knew my name
I should just change it.
And so Aliyha became Leah,
Which became Lee,
Which became Ash.
So, because kids are mean
And I was stupid,
I tore the name from my lips, my ink, my ears
And introduced myself.
Hi, I'm Ash Wood.
Never claimed I was good at naming things.
Ask my cat, Holly.
Holly is such a good name, though.
Not too hard to say, or to spell.
Not too hard to hear.
I remember sitting there,
Butt going numb with pins and needles,
And white-knuckled and wrist aching
From the pen and paper I clutched in my hand
Or the Baby Name websites pulled up on my phone.
I ruled out any nicknames,
Because while they are okay
You can't really get any good nicknames
From Aliyha.
Another flaw, I guess.
I asked friends,
Thinking a name from them
Would equate a name with love,
Picked out with careful considerance
A mother would give her newborn child.
But the path that took me down
Was nothing but a book of memories,
Reminding me of all the bloody butchering
My teachers, friends, family all had done
In the past.
When I was in my last year of middle school,
I remember a friend singing about the magic
Of threes.
A mother, a father, and a baby.
A triangular balance holding up Ash.
Until I remembered, that Aliyha
Also comes in threes.
Six letters. Three goddamn syllables!
Three years of reprieve,
Not until with confident hands,
I could sign my name
Aliyha again.
About this poem
It's a very personal poem, based off of experiences I went through with my name.
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Written on October 12, 2023
Submitted by aliyhawood on December 14, 2023
- 1:53 min read
- 0 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XXXXX XXXAX BXACD XXEXX XCXXX XFGXX HXHIX XXXEX XJGXX XXJCD IJFXX BX |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,785 |
Words | 375 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 2 |
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"Aliyha" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/177886/aliyha>.
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