My Name was Supposed to be Elizabeth Ann

A grizzled, gap-toothed man asks to break a twenty for his bill. I keep all m’fives, he tells the waitress.

The man at the counter laughs.  I like keeping all my money, too.

Naw, the fives. He holds a bill aloft. The ones with E.

When I was little and loud, my favorite word was, Why.

Because I said so, they replied, a hammer smashing the universe to dust. It coated my eyes, choked my throat, settled like rocks along my spine.

Powerful tools, hammers. They break and build, I learned.

I swivel right. Why E’s, I say. Why fives?

*****