ChefDangerKangaroo25 I always thought the name came out of a book My mother still has it… I always thought the name came out of a book
My mother still has it
It’s crude and it’s orange and it says African names
Now inside African names it says something like
Idris means immortal
But I don’t think that’s right
My mother’s name is Patricia, my father’s name is Donald Their parents are named Thelma, James, Ruth and also James They wanted us to have names with throat and vowels
In Detroit the name was a minority
The black church asked, why you give that boy a Muslim name?
Why you get that boy that African name?
There are names in the ‘good book’
Strong apostle names
There are names in the phone book, strong regular names In the suburbs, the name was a minority
My middle American classmates asked
Is it Eye-Dris, is it Iris, is it Ivan, is it Isadore, is it Ivan, is it Iggy?
How about I just call you I? Can I just call you E?
Can I just call you something other than your name?
Age 11
I asked my mom if I can change my name to something else
Mark, Tony, Sean, something else
Being named Idris in North America will arrest people
You must grow patience
That’s so unusual
What an exotic name
It sounds Turkish, it sounds Greek Are you Muslim?
Age 16, two Arab dudes come through my register
They get big eyed when they see my name tag
They’re curious
How did the name make its way to Target in suburban Michigan?
They’re disappointed when I tell them about the book, African names
Some 10 years later, I’m in the Middle East where they pronounce it beautifully
Not all straightened and flattened
They’ve given it a joyful bounce
Idris is a prophet in the Quran
Age 20 I’m new to Chicago
I’m cleaning cigarette butts out of a restaurant urinal for minimum wage
My boss is a giant stereotype of a man in a turtleneck, sport jacket, dark glasses and a thick-as-Mike-Ditka’s-mustache-Chicago-accent
He unzips it my urinal, the one I just cleaned
And then he says I’m not going to remember that name of yours
How about I just call you, Eddie?
And my name became Eddie
But then his assistant suggested he stopped for fear I might claim cultural insensitiv
The gentleman form the UK tells me the Welsh have a myth
There’s Morocco’s Moulay Idris, the jazz world’s Iris Muhammad, televisions Idris Elba
How do you say it? That’s so unusual
What does it mean?
Prophetic cashier
What does it mean?
Philosophic cleaner of urinals
How do you say it? That’s so exotic
How do you say it?
How do you say it?
How do you say it?
Summarize the poem Image transcription textI always thought the name came out of a book My mother still has it It’s crude and it’s orange and it says Africannames Now inside African names it says something like Idris means immortal But I don’t think that’s right Mymother’s name is Patricia, my father’s name is Donald Their parents are named Thelma, James, Rut… Show more… Show more Arts & HumanitiesEnglish
