an essay in the form of a poem (so a poem) and birthday greeting

It’s true. I wanted to name

our newborn son “Dark Green”.

of course his lovely young mother

put an immediate stop to it.

her insistence willed-out and that’s good.

my last name would not have been

appropriate as to syntax.

(three syllables, accent on the middle)

“Dark Green” needed a one syllable 

last name like "Duke” or “Ham” or “Mace”.

two syllables, accent on the first might’ve been okay,

like: “Salad” or “Plumber”––

but this is our (come to find out) one and only son.

Frank Zappa had it right with “Moon Unit”

for his daughter because “Zappa” has two syllables,

accent on the first and that works well with "Moon Unit".

in time we settled on “Zak”  but between contractions

she changed her mind and went permanently with “Josh”.

also, history will show that "Zak” was taken by the son of a drummer

in a British rock n' roll band some 10 years beforehand.