After Andrew, Elizabeth Marie—
second child, first daughter, I was to be,
but the Canadian ultrasound failed
and my parents’ baby-naming plans derailed.
My name, Matthew, decided on a whim,
somehow always seemed to fit me wrong
and joined me to a wide and WASPy throng
of boys named ‘Matthew Something Patronym.’
Nicknames abound when you’re in Junior High
and I played a bit with alternate spelling
but the results were never quite …compelling
and seemed to fade from use by mid-July.
But, when named after Cinderella’s mouse,
It stuck like a lawn dart thrown over the house.
Then I Was Rechristened Gus
