Names with i
or names with o,
the effort to remember
consonants
seems beyond me.
It all hisses by
like the hiss on the phone,
like like.
I listen hard.
A lot of conversations
from the year 1200
concern me
but the pronunciation has changed,
which throws me off.
Someone with a
is addressing me now,
a particular pressure of the hand
that I don’t return,
a sip of wine
baked dry,
a leftover u,
an unavailing y.