America swallowed my parents / spit out skeletons / Waleed became Bill / the Clintons stretched / their skinny vowels / over my father’s father’s father’s name / my mother says she renamed herself after Lana Turner / I say she renamed herself after the first woman / who sounded less like honey / my mother gives me a neutral name / reminds me / homes are always provisional / lonely women give birth to lonely women / I beget my one body through the roof / the sky is just a lonely woman napping / my mother took a scalpel to the M / in her name / gave it to mine / began my sister’s with an N / neat / noble / next / I was an incision baby / when my mother begot me / she lost a section of stomach / a letter / my mother lives to the left of everything she can read / unmarried the magic of her God-gifted name / Lama / Lama Turner / like the radio / switched to the last song / of whatever keeps the windows closed / women who sound like honey / never live long /

my next car won’t be able to hold my neck /