If I erase my name
From the top of my English worksheet
Will no one know me?
If I rip off the name tag
At this office party
Will someone still recognise me?
If I change the colour of my hair
Walking my hometown streets
Will someone still call out to me?
If I change my face plastic and silicone
Walk up the altar
Will they still rise?
If I go to court and change my name
Birth name to Jane Doe
Will my parents still speak of me?
I did that all
I changed my name
Erased and torn
My hair a sticky auburn
From the jet black it used to be
My eyes a little bigger
My nose a little smaller
Filled and reduced to unnoticed lengths
My teacher still knows my worksheet though
My handwriting, he says, is distinct
A colleague waves at me from across the room
He’s seen me wear this pale blue dress before
My childhood friend runs up to me
You changed your hair, she exclaims
They hesitate to rise
But my father knows
He walks me down
He calls me Jane Doe
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Photo: Amelia Wahyuningtias on Unsplash
