Names

Joann

Joanna

Joan

Many names associated with my image

as 5’9’, dark ginger-haired woman.

Joanie

Johanne

Johanna

Many sounds come out of strangers’ mouths

when they read the first word of my identity.

Jóann

Jóhanne

Jóhanna

Frustration of my inner soul rises as the name that belonged to

many grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and Paul Newman’s famous wife

gets different sounds.

Jane

Jeana

Jèane

Damn it God, I know I’m half-Irish but that is not my name!

Why did you have to call up my maternal grandmother, Joan,

three months before my birth?

Because it would be nice to have a mentor of the same name to teach me

how I can fly through life and people just read and simply say,

“Joann”