Practiced years of growing into our first and middle names.
Assignments made by others that we press and fold,
pinch and pull, nick and drawl. Truncate or change.
Train of educational placards, elementary picture boards
strung around the room like memory prayer flags. Green and
charcoal. Upper case to identify as personal.
Lower case like skipping stones on familiar surfaces.
Childhood jump ropes raised in the air as
sound enters through the syllables.
