BRAT

Born “James,”
James answered to “James”
when his mother called;
to “brat” when his father did
Baptized “James,” James believed
the shouting and shoving
he heard hiding under his sheets,
the slapping and sobbing
that came from the other bedroom,
wasn’t caused by James
but by “that brat”
His older brothers and sisters,
cousins, aunts and uncles,
dudes in high school
called James, “Brat,”
By then, James himself did,
answered to it,
signed “Brat” instead of “James,”
and after he was sentenced to prison
for a very long time,
that was the last anyone
ever heard of James