My Middle Names by Anita Ibeakanma (All About My Name Poetry Series) | Silver Birch Press Home About Silver Birch Press Poetry & Prose…from Prompts « Quest by Siwsan Gimprich (All About My Name Poetry Series) Karen by Alexandra Carr-Malcolm (All About My Name Poetry Series) » My Middle Names by Anita Ibeakanma (All About My Name Poetry Series) June 4, 2015 // 2 My Middle Names by Anita Ibeakanma My Mama said to me Anna is your middle name For you are full of grace You were without blemish Florence another name For your Godmother’s gaze As you will always flourish My peers said to me Anna is out of vogue Anita is now in vogue As change remains promising Move from grace to gracious Florence can remain flourishing For Florence is always precious I said to me Anita is now my middle name This change in name is not a game I move from grace to being gracious For Florence remains a jewel so precious As change is yet so promising I’d rather my path keeps flourishing PHOTOGRAPH: The author in 2001. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Anita Ibeakanma is a novelist and short story writer — author of Faderme: Tears from a Little Boy’s Heart. Her second short story title Pretty Fightingirls was recently published in paperback and Kindle editions. She lives in Nigeria. Share this: Twitter Facebook Tumblr More Reddit Email LinkedIn Pinterest Like this: Like Loading... Related Tags Authors, Poems, poetry, poets, Writers, Writing Categories Uncategorized 2 Comments Post your own or leave a trackback: Trackback URL oovj says: June 6, 2015 at 2:32 am I like that — move from grace to being gracious 🙂 Reply kimmyalan says: June 21, 2015 at 5:13 pm Anita was my maternal grandmother’s name passed down to my sister’s middle name, who passed it once again to my three year old niece’s middle name. And of course, as I’m sure others have requested from you, every now and then I say, “Anita hug.” Beautiful name, great write. Reply Leave a Reply Cancel reply Enter your comment here... Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Email (required) (Address never made public) Name (required) Website You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change ) You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change ) You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change ) Cancel Connecting to %s Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Δ Follow Blog via Email Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address: Follow Join 10,637 other followers Search for: Follow me on Twitter @SilverBirchPres My Tweets Archives Archives Select Month September 2022 August 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 November 2017 September 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 Categories Categories Select Category Alan King Alice in Wonderland Anthology All About My Name Animals April Fool’s Day Erasure Archives Art Artists’ Quotes Authors’ Birthdays Authors’ Departures autumn Awards BEACH & POOL MEMORIES Beat Erasure Poetry Beats birds Birthdays Book excerpts Book Giveaway Book Recommendations Book Reviews Books Books Into Films Bukowski Anthology Bukowski Erasure Poetry Bukowski_on_Wry By the Numbers California California Events Call for Submissions Calls for Submission cartoons Celebrity Free Verse Charles Bukowski Chicago Children’s books Chris Forhan Contests Daniel Romo Departures Drama Drama from SBP Dreams ebooks Ellaraine Lockie Erasure Poetry Ernest Hemingway Essays Events F. Scott Fitzgerald Fashion Favorite Authors Favorite Books Favorite Plays Felix Fiction Food found poetry Fred Voss George McKim Gerald Locklin Gift Ideas Great Gatsby Great Gatsby Anthology Green Anthology H2OH Haiku Half New Year Heroes Holidays HOW TO HOW TO HEAL THE EARTH Humor I AM STILL WAITING I Am Waiting IDES IF I Poetry & Prose Series Inspiration interviews Jack Kerouac James B. Golden james w moore Jeffrey C. Alfier Jeffrey Graessley Joan Jobe Smith John Brantingham John Fante Journals Kathleen A. Wakefield LANDMARKS Last Lines Learning to Drive Letters Literary Awards Looks Like Me Ekphrastic Poetry Series Los Angeles Los Angeles Authors Los Angeles Books Los Angeles Events Los Angeles Locations LOST & FOUND Magnetic Poetry May Poetry Me Me as a Child Me During the Holidays ME, AT 17 ME, IN A HAT ME, IN FICTION Memoirs Merrill Farnsworth Michael C. Keith Michalle Gould Months of Year Movie Reviews Movies Music Musings MY FIRST JOB My Front Door My Imaginary Skill MY MANE MEMORIES My Metamorphosis My Perfect Vacation My Perfect Vaction My Prized Possession My Sweet Word My Sweet Word: Halloween My Sweet Words Mystery authors Mythic Poetry Series Nancy Drew Anthology Nature New Authors New Releases Noir noir_erasure_poetry Nonfiction from SBP novels Novels from SBP ONE GOOD MEMORY Opening Lines Pamela Wood Paris Patrick T. Reardon Paul Fericano Paul Nebenzahl Philippa Mayall Photography Photography Books Plays Poetry Poetry and Places Poetry from SBP Poetry Readings poets Prime Movers Proverbs Punctuation Pushcart Prize Quotes Rachel Carey Reading Reflections Regional Rejections Reviews Rodger Jacobs Sam Silvas SAME NAME Screenwriting Seasonal Self-Portrait Poetry Short Stories Silver Silver Anthology Silver Birch Photo Silver Birch Press Silver Starlight Books Songs Southern Authors Spring STARTING TO RIDE Street Art Summer Summer Anthology Summer Books Summer Poetry Summer Road Trip Swallow Dance That Looks Like Me Ekphrastic Poetry Series The Great Gatsby Anthology THOUGHTS ABOUT THE EARTH Travel Uncategorized Underlined Poetry Valentine’ Day Erasure Videos Visitors WEARING A MASK Weather When I Hear That Song When I Hear That Song Series WHEN I MOVED Where I Live winter Women Artists Women Authors words Writer’s Quotes Writing Advice writing opportunities Zen Poetry Social Facebook Twitter Contact: sbpsubmissions at gmail dot com Silver Birch Press Silver Birch Press Top Posts & Pages Pulling Off Route 79 on a Summer Day by Sharon Ball (ONE GOOD MEMORY Series) Wedding Dress Shopping on Mother's Day 2022 by Sarah Dickenson Snyder (ONE GOOD MEMORY Series) The Waiting Place by Dr. Seuss We have been Freshly Pressed three times! Thank you to authors Robin Dawn Hudechek, Joan Colby, and Bunkong Tuon for their freshly pressed poems! Blog at WordPress.com. Back to the top Follow Following Silver Birch Press Join 10,637 other followers Sign me up Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now. Silver Birch Press Customize Follow Following Sign up Log in Copy shortlink Report this content View post in Reader Manage subscriptions Collapse this bar Loading Comments... Write a Comment... Email (Required) Name (Required) Website %d bloggers like this: