Four Syllables

They said it wrong for six years
Today I put my coffee down

Six years of answering to a name
That wasn't mine, just nearby
Six years of "close enough," of letting it go
Of being easy to say instead of me
Of coffee cups with hopeful guesses
Some of them genuinely creative
None of them, remarkably, ever right
Of introductions I let slide like rain
Of email signatures doing the heavy lifting
Of a lanyard spelled right that nobody read
Of answering anyway, because rent
My grandmother chose this name out loud
On a hot Tuesday she liked to describe
Under a jacaranda in full purple, out loud, twice
So it would sit right in the mouth
Tested it on the neighbours, the postman, the dog
Until the whole street had it perfect
Until it was less a word than a welcome
It has four syllables. Each one mine
Monday, in the big glass room, mid-meeting
He said it wrong again. I smiled. I didn't let it go

Not angry. Not loud
Just done being approximate
I said it slow like a song title
The room leaned in to learn it
The projector hummed. Somebody's pen stopped
Six years ended in four beats
I picked my coffee back up. Meeting continued
Revolutions can be very quiet

Say it again
(Say it right)
Four syllables, worth every one
My grandmother sang it at the front door —
Say it again like she did

Say it again like she did

Say it
(All of it)
Again

Say it again
(Say it right)
Say it again like she did

Here's the part I didn't expect
He practised. Wrote it phonetically
On the corner of his legal pad
And soon enough he landed it clean
And looked over like a man at a piano recital
Who has practised one piece all summer
I gave him the nod. The nod matters
We've had zero trouble lately. Funny, that
Priya from finance fixed hers next
The new guy asked, "how do you say yours — properly?"
Turns out a whole floor was answering
To nearby names. Not any more
The meeting-room door got a little heavier
With all of us arriving whole

Not angry. Never loud
Just done being approximate
We say them slow like song titles now
The room learned every one

Say it again
(Say it right)
Four syllables, worth every one
My grandmother sang it at the front door —
Say it again like she did

Four syllables
No shortcuts
You've got time

A name is the first gift you get
And the last thing they say about you
And mine crossed an ocean in a suitcase
That lost everything else but this
It is not hard to say
It was only ever hard to bother
So: the jacaranda, out loud, twice
Bother

Say it again

(Say it right)
My grandmother sang it at the front door —
And the door is still open

(Every one)
Say it again
(Every one)
Say it again

Say it

(All of it)
Again

Say it again like she did

Say it again
(Say it right)
Say it again like she did

Say it again

Say it again

(Every one)
Say it again
(Every one)
Say it again