(Official birth certificate name: Marsha Diane Foss)

When I was Dale Evans,
my friend Karen was Annie Oakley.
We rode our galloping mares
through yards and down the alleys,
our holstered cap guns at our sides,
keeping the neighborhood safe.
 
When I was in love with Debbie Reynolds
and her bachelor.
I told kids next door to my cousins’ house
that my real name was Tammy
and I didn’t know why my family
called me something else.
 
When I tried Sunny for a week
at camp I was ready to broaden my horizons.
I soon grew weary of the brightness of the name
and by Thursday decided that sun needed to set
as I moved on to something
mysterious and cloudy: Kalani.
 
When I became Kate
my divorce was almost complete.
I’d dropped his name following the hyphen
and added an extra middle name to mine
on passport, driver’s license, and the deed
for my new townhouse.
 
In real life
now married anew
with no one else’s name
I still keep the neighborhood safe,
grandchildren at my side.
“Heigh-ho, Mormor!” they shout.


© by Marsha Foss.
Used with the author’s permission.