my real name isn't james lee jobe.
my real name is a secret,
and I am not going to reveal it here.
it never felt real anyway.
as if i didn't own my real name,
but it owned me instead.
of course, there's a story involved.
our plane lifted off, carried by sparrows.
it was a plane without wings,
and so we each had to use our own wings,
sparrows and humans alike.
my own wings reached out farther
than ever before, and cast a shadow
across the bleary face of the world.
we flew. but not my name.
that wasn't on the plane, i left it behind.
in this life your parents might give you a name,
but that doesn't make the name real.
you have to rename yourself,
and friend, you have to earn it.
you have to fly with your own wings.
L'Homme aile ou l'Ange dechu -- Odilon Redon
James comments:
ReplyDeleteFor the record, I was born James Elvin Jobe, got married to Alexandra Lee and became, legally, James Elvin Lee-Jobe, and later started publishing as James Lee Jobe, which had been my father's name. My earliest poems were published as J. Jobe, in the pre-digital era.