Would a rose by any other name really smell as sweet?
Would the rose, if we called it 'stink weed' become a wry observation or would the rose wither under the onslaught of our imposed title?
Today I read an interesting piece about titles – poetry titles, but it set me to thinking about titles in a broader sense. I remembered a friend from when I was a professional dancer who decided to rewrite herself, to start herself anew and to do this she gave herself a title, a new name. Her chosen first name was Natasha; rather a topical one considering the recent adaptation of War and Peace, her surname will remain a secret for the obvious reason. She rewrote herself, and gave herself the new title and became that person, who she and other people thought she was in response to that name.
I have had a few other friends who have also done this and although critics could say that they were the same person inside so nothing had really altered I’d have to disagree. It was suggested that there are two types of poetry title: descriptive, evocative and that some may, in fact, masquerade as the other or be an amalgamation of the two. So how would this work with humans I ask myself?
I had a friend who called herself ‘Red’, dyed her hair scarlet and became ‘red’ in character. Fantastic! But what of me? What of my hatred of my own name? What colour would I become? Violet? Blue? Chartreuse? Do I feel inclined to change a name given to me by someone I feel no need to appease by keeping it? Well, yes, actually, I do. However, the ramifications of a name change – legally executed – would be an issue these days. My qualifications, legal documents, hell, even my drivers license not to mention all my friends are used to thinking of me in terms of a name I do not relate to so…. All I can do is conjecture.
Who would I be? What would I call myself? I can think of many names that could describe me if people knew what they meant and many that I could make an enigmatic point with but in all probability, I shall remain Karen. And what of you? Who would you be? If you were a poem, what would be your enigmatic or descriptive title?
