It’s a name
But oh so much more.
My life has been punctuated
With Georges,
The first in a long string
Of presidents.
Washington
Of course
On the one dollar bill.
But also
My great grandfather
In Napoleon, North Dakota.
Bank president.
We have a family dollar bill
He signed.
Back then
Legal tender was signed
By bank presidents.
It is framed
In my brother’s house
In Minnesota.
These are singular
Georges.
When my brother and boy cousins
Were born
My grandmother offered a ransom
If one of them was given the name
Of George.
No one took the bait.
Years later she had a dog,
A Maltese,
She named him George,
Drove him around
In her Cadillac.
Since then I have known
Many Georges
They join a long line
Of singularities.
