What's In A Name? - Stefn Sylvester Anyatonwu

POEM 101: WHAT'S IN A NAME?

What’s in a name that heads turn at the mention of one,

other heads shake at the mention of another,

while heads bow at the mention of the other?

What’s in a name that causes a quiver in your body

or a smile to curl onto your lips

when the name of that gorgeous dame

or that of that gentleman rings in your heart?

What’s in a name that everyone cherish

lest it be tarnished?

What’s in a name that the newly born

must be tagged with one?

If not given one, will identity be lost?

What’s in a name that can make one stand out from the crowd

or make you lost in the masses like a grain of rice in a bag of sand?

What’s in a name that in every clime forms

a means of introduction?

What’s in a name?

I don't know what's in mine.

So let me introduce myself:

Ja(r)achi: that's my name.

I used to feel my name in harsh syllables

rooted in the language of Ndi Igbo and imported English

Jar or Jaa?

One’s a container

the other a worship verb;

like being boxed in jar

so I could offer my worship to Jah.

I lost my identity in the thin line of opposing religio-cultures.

‘Jaachi’ says the Igbo

But how can God I extol

when I’m boxed in a religious jar of another?

They mocked my Chi and his priests

Burnt down his shrines and gave us crosses

Took our Mgbeke and gave us Mary

Jar or Jaa, I don’t know what I am!

Lost and in darkness, they said I was

And like Moses with a magic rod

they thrust deep into my mode of worship

with subtle trades and a single warship

they took down our barns and announced I AM

but what's in a name I AM when we’ve lost our yam?

How burdensome,

How difficult,

to stand between two worlds

with no name for what I’ve become.

Never still. Tumultuous.

Swirling and dangling with a foreign name

In syllabus my forebears would chew tongues

just to say my name.

What’s in name

that could make me write a poem

I myself do not understand?

- Stefn Sylvester Anyatonwu

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