BTT #43: Change of Name

On By Lona GyntIn Poetry

Dream 6_001

Change of Name
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On the day my
Name changed
It came to me silently
In the wind
Whispering unseen across
Calm waters in the evening.
Not etched upon a stone,
But wrapped in breathings
As it quietly
And carefully unfurled.
It left my former body
Resting on the shore,
Leaving me open and
Solitary in the
Knowledge now of strength and ken,
Pacing out each new footstep
Upon a freshly tilted world.
···
 Lona Gynt    October 2018.
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This is posted in response to Amaya’s prompt at dVerse “What’s in a Name”  We are prompted to write a poem about the meaning of our name.
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My given name meant fierce.  This is still the legal name that carries me through this world.  It has beena blessing.
My pseudopseudonym  is Lona.  I consider it my true name.  In English it means “Solitary.”
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Please Link up to the prompt and join us as we dance through a fruitful field of monikers.  Here is the link:
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The pictures were taken during a visit to the exhibit by Cica Ghost in Second Life entitled “Dreamers.”
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Also – I am dedicating this poem to dVerse, and feel it appropriate to include my comment from the original prompt below.
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“I was named by a piece of Junk Mail that came to my letter box at work years ago before I had learned not to hate myself for being transgender.  There it was, “Lona”
I had never heard it before, a beautiful feminine name.  It just felt like me, and made me smile, so it has been in my heart ever since.  In retrospect I think it was a grace to have a found name.  It softened my self -loathing to some degree.  I then later came across “Lona Hessel” a fictional character in one of Ibsen’s lesser known but very wonderful (and actually hilarious) plays called “Pillars of Society.”  She was a strong independent witty voice who spoke truth to power and is one of the few Ibsen main female characters who would not be either oppressed or terrifying.  This play actually was an Ibsen play that did not end in a suicide of some sort.  I loved her, and the bond to this name grew.  Yesterday in researching for this prompt I realized I had never actually looked up the meaning of this name.  In English, Lona means  “Solitary.”  This fits, and the truth in it and the ability to love and understand myself even when so much of my little corner of the world cannot do so binds me close to this name I have taken.  Thank you Amaya.  A lovely prompt, and an important one for me.  I will just sit over in this corner, in solitude, not loneliness, with a nice big glass of that glow I get from the dVerse crowd.  Won’t be able to be on the poetry trail much until my road trip this weekend, but I am looking forward to it.  “When something is important to you, you care what it is called.” Thank You, Lona.
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dreamers ballon giants
All Rights reserved for this post to Lona Gynt, October 2018.

 

 

40 thoughts on “BTT #43: Change of Name”

  1. Beautiful how you show that a name is a spirit that seeks out the worthy body-home. And of course the Revelations 2:17 (my birthday!) gift, stone or no stone. Yes. You were chosen for that name to be a companion or an angel to you. The ending, with the new tilt, to me feels as if a great weight has been lifted, and with its absence the secondary gift of a new perspective, literally, on the world and on yourself.

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  2. Interestingly.. now.. I like the Name Katie Mia Frederick
    Better than Frederick Arthur with my Given Sir Name too
    As it Reminds me how important
    A Loving Grace
    in Balance
    of Foundation
    is to All Will and
    Strength Secure
    As Steady Path
    up Maslow’s
    Pyramid
    of Self Actualization Ascending
    Transcending in as US Agape Love
    For all too For true what is tHere to
    Be Afraid of Different When All is Viewed
    aS LoVE NoW..
    Hi.. Lona Gynt..
    Nice to See
    You on
    the dVerse Trail Again..:)

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    1. Thank you Dwight, love your painting on Glancing in on your post this time, haven’t read yet, will be signing off a couple days from dVerse because of work stuff, but will hit the trail on the weekend. Looking forward to reading what goes with the painting.

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  6. Lona – poetic and resonates across cultures. A name that symbolises strength to me. I loved how you explained the name coming to be yours. not ever lonely in solitude – that is so true. beautiful poetry Lona

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    1. Oooh Bjorn! That lovely thought really makes me smile. You may have noticed I am the girl stuck in a chrysalis. .. to think of my name alighting like a butterfly is such a sweet thought to me , you don’t even know! In fact I almost used a picture of a monarch butterfly to close this post. So thank you, from the butterfly hopeful to the friendly bear. 🙂

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    1. Mish that is a wonderful compliment. There is a freedom in having a name that matches your heart. I loved your comment how you carry your name with you “Mish” even though no one in non-pixelated spheres will use it except your ex father-in-law, which strikes me as both lovely and ironic in its circumstance, we both have somewhat “hidden” names that might be trying to get out there someday. Here I raise a glass of glow to comfort, relief, and freedom that may one day echo in actual ear canals smiling: “hello, you can call me Lona” or in your case “I love being called Mish”. Thank you friend.

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    1. Why I do own that name, why yes I actually do. 🙂. Now I am just working to deserve that gift, but I am afraid I still fall short. Thank God for Grace. 😏
      A name that embodies the ultimate loving tilting of the world to our favor. How nice to carry a name that carries the constant remembrance that we don’t deserve the gifts that we have come to own, but through a joyful rather than a dissembling lens. Here is a glass of glow from one gifted name to a person who’s name embodies gift. Thank you Grace 😊

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    1. Thank you Harry, it has been a change in perspective, and quite joyful actually, although it has its challenges to say the least. I see some haikus from you in my in box btw, looking forward to looking at them. 🙂

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  13. Dear Lona, this poem and the thought behind it made me feel a certain rush of happiness, the one you get when you’re at peace with yourself/selves, embracing your identities, and becoming the name that is your tethering to the world.
    Thank you for this wonderful reflection — it is a beautiful name, imbibing the solitary condition of being human.

    This hits close because I have such an issue with my own given name and its meaning — I wonder if I will ever have the strength to become one with it or choose another for myself. I temporarily go by HA especially in my writing because it is tantamount to my struggle with my mental health. So, your story means a lot to me. 🙂 ❤

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  14. Just Barry

    This is the realest poem I’ve read in a long time. I felt a weight lifted, as if I could breathe easier… And that was before I read the origin of your name.

    I can’t imagine the world experienced from your singular perspective, but know that you’ve made a new friend today, Lona. Please keep writing. 😊

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  15. This is lovely. Your name reminds me of Alona, (Alona the Wild One). She was a comic book child heroine who spent her spare time (between winning international diving contests) saving folks from certain disaster – and catching crooks. I wanted to be her. But then, I also wanted to ride the saddle beside Blackbow the Cheyanne, – another fictional hero.

    I’ve read your posts before, and yet it’s only now that I begin to see you…

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    1. We all would like to be able to dive, save and catch. Alona sounds great, fun fact you never see Alona and Jane in the same place at once, is Jane your secret identity? 🤔
      Anyway, I am so glad for your visit, and that you like this poem, it was an important one for me. Thank you friend 🙂

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  16. Therisa Godwaldt

    Lona, how we come across our names, is a personal journey, many cispeople don’t understand. For myself, it was honouring my parents’ selection of Theresa (or a variant of the name). Had I been born, in my proper body, as a female.

    Just as my birth name honours of my dad’s brothers, who died, after my parents married. Although, my opa wished that I was named Jan or John, after him.

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