“when I lifted my eyes to your name,
suddenly your heart showed me my way.”
— Pablo Neruda.

Today is ‘Learn what your name means’ day. A light-hearted day of discovery but yet it touches our core identity. One of the first sounds we hear is our allotted name, one of the first nouns we learn and one that firmly embeds the I-self as not-you, not-other.

As a child I was always wanting to change my name but Teresa Mei Chuc was tired of having to do so:

“I am tired of having five different names; - 
Having to change them when I enter 

A new country or take on a new life. My
First name is my truest, I suppose, but I 

Never use it and nobody calls me by this Vietnamese 
Name though it is on my birth certificate— 

Tue My Chuc. It makes the sound of a twang of a
String pulled. My parents tell me my name in Cantonese 

is Chuc Mei Wai. Three soft bird chirps and they call 
me Ah Wai. {more}”

Whilst Rachel Sherwood wistfully calls up the Names of Children:

“In early morning when the sun 
is vague and birds are furious 
names of children float 
like smoke through the empty room: 
Ariadne, dark as seal skin
Ian, fair-skinned baby

Marina Terrence Alex John
after dinner pulled back from
talk of war and morals 
their names glow like light 
around a candle — 
Jack, my rampant youngest son 
Celia, my daughter who sings {more}”

So what if you were called Walter/Walt“ from the Germanic: “Army Ruler,” it denotes a sense of dominance and control, a strong and impactful name. And if a girl: “Marie” with so many linguistic variations like Mary, Miriam, she is ‘beloved’, ‘from the sea’, ‘bitter’ with qualities of strength, resilience, and grace, reflected in the etymology.

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And so for today’s MTB prompt we are writing a WaltMarie poetry style*:

• 10 lines
• even lines are just 2 syllables
• odd lines are longer but without syllable restriction
• the even lines make their own mini-poem if read separately
• meter and rhyme are unspecified

And the theme of your poem should be

• the history/meaning of your name
• or one you wish you had
• or an imaginary one

Consider/imagine how it was chosen, what has it meant to carry that name

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*Information: The WaltMarie poetry style was invented by Candace Kubinec as a nod to Poetic Bloomings hosts, Marie Elena Good and Walter J. Wojtanik.
Here are 2 example poems as reference: Poetic Forms Waltmarie

So once you have posted your poem according to the guidelines above, do add it to Mr Linky below then go visiting and reading other contributors as that is half the fun of our dVerse gatherings.

[N.B. Mr Linky closes Saturday 3 p.m. EST]