First Impressions

At my new job
my Manager's Boss can't
remember my name.

His face goes blank
and his head tilts slightly
whenever he sees me.
He is a busy man with many
things on his mind.

My name is not one of them.

There is another person at work
who keeps calling me Tom
which is a fine name that
I would have no problem with
had my parents given it to me.

The last time I quietly corrected
this person, I made a point of
telling him how much I like the name

and that he should just go with it
and call me Thomas in his best
English accent when he sees me

that way way he could shout at
me like King Henry and say things
like "Good God Thomas, are you mad?!"

He looked at me with a degree
of bewilderment that is hard to describe,
but I think I finally made an impression.

Ken Owen   Van Niddy Press   December 2015