The righteously, rightly, angry, black,
female poet with a name that is strong
harkening back to ancestors, but tough

to pronounce, wrote derisively in the
middle of one of her poems, “What the
f… (She was tough enough to spell it

out.) does your name mean Linda?” I’ve
known a lot of Lindas — schoolmates,
cousins, neighbors — but until I took

a taped course in Spanish never knew
what the word meant — “beautiful” and
its various forms in context such as

pretty, nice, cute…. I have a relative
Rachel which means Little Lamb of God.
I’m Robert, of great fame, not so much,

but it’s nice to know. Sometimes, I think
of myself as a member of King Arthur’s
court. The poet has a name, tough to

pronounce, out there, not something to
mess with, as I am sure the same goes
for the poet. I don’t know what her name

means, but it means “beautiful” to me.