To my fellow teachers
Reading rosters
with names that
don’t roll off the tongue
the names that require
extra thought
extra effort and
the respect to be pronounced correctly
there’s always
an Appreciation
for the attempts
And there’s always a story
mine is of a soap opera
a Gypsy in love with a naval officer
the story of how
ye
Makes a j
Sound in
Spanish class
the only teachers
who could say it
without hesitation
my five-year-old self
changed my name to Sonia
while visiting Perú
because it made more friends
This for the names
that don’t appear on
souvenir cups
plates
or shirts
My student told me
most of my teachers
can’t say my name and it’s OK
and I told her no
they need to just say it
no matter how many times it takes.
