"C”
Mrs Woodbury in music’s Ansonia hotel
told me to add a middle initial to my name
I wouldn’t have to explain what it stood for
And I would go on to spiritualize money
write mysteries, a surprise to me,
like this life a ghost stands behind
as I rise with the solstice and dream myself back
to the start of life’s letter game
the one I will abandon
as I did the letter “C” which stood
between names given and received
Regarding money, there was no problem
I helped but sent no one to Las Vegas
And I wrote poems some thought mysterious
when they didn’t understand
Call me Carol or Carmen if you wish!
What does a name matter?
I carried my “C” well
It wasn’t too much
till, who knows the day,
I let go of that signifying half circle
But you can still guess who I am,
transformed and transforming with a letter
and what I have learned and forget
and what I was given and gave up