What’s in a Name

   by Nadine Lockhart

Something about Obsessive-Compulsive 
Disorder and names, how I think 
there’s a secret beneath, an almost betrayal 
telling of a person: her future, his past. 
I study ex-girlfriends of former lovers: short, 
catchy Ruth, Rica and Jess, or Marianne’s 
alternative spelling with an “i.” Overnight, 
everyone I meet is a derivative of Jennifer:
Jen, Jenny, Jett. Craving details, I enlarge 
photos of a woman, hold a magnifier over 
the image as if lines around her eyes and fat 
thighs will undo the best sex he’s ever had.