Misspelled and mispronounced
They (like i) have always wondered
Why?
A “K” and not a “C”
You see,
I have yet to meet a name; a person
Like mine; like me.

“Miss Karleigh”
Written on the envelopes,
The many Birthday cards sent,
I will save forever.
“Dear Karleigh,”
Addressed to me
From my teachers
Who have encouraged me to value
My perspective. My creativity. My self
less ways of living day to day.
To take notes of little things-
Like birthdays.
Of different people
Who see the difference in me
And my name

Seen by sailors passing by
my sonar,
“Karleigh Girl”
My grandfather named it after me,
The boat that sails, and now i sail it for myself
My dad, like his father
Finds comfort in the blues.

He would often forget the words
To the music
Spontaneously sung, and
The chorus would become a collage
Of B.B King lyrics; a song of myself...
Karleigh….Karleigh….Karleigh Girl,
A name with no meaning,
means so much to me.

Collided with the natural
Spelling of Nicole
Dreamt by my mother long ago; how
Ever, she did fail the victory
To the daughter of a sister who wrapped
The baby in blankets, of pink
Bouquets of roses
Given to her after the first dance recital.
She learned so step by step.
Nicole.

Karleigh
Dances to the beat of her own drum
Only the drum is not a drum at all,
But rather the sound of her heartbeat
Abnormal
A 3rd sound they discovered
And when it rains, it pours
And so she pours out her soul
Like a can of paint
To color the world.

Karleigh Nicole.
The N.
I isolate  
In signature
To show that there is meaning to the middle
Of my story
Symbolic letters
To name existence

Of a past life
Where italian spirits roam
The city of Napoli
Mainella
Pronounced with an emphasis on the
“I
Am still learning”
-Michelangelo
At age 87
Whose work i marvel at
The marble
As i walk the streets of Italy
With a name tag
That Maria made for me to wear
Over my heart.

She didn’t spell it right.
But that didn’t bother me.