I wish my parents had given me
Some other last name
Than their own
That way I could escape
Easy stereotyping
And caricaturization
Imagine if my last name was
Simply “X”
What great difficulty people would’ve had
To figure me out
Just from my last name
As it is I am saddled
With the last name Reddy
And everyone seems to have
A theory or two
On who or what a Reddy is like
And I feel answerable
For all the deeds, misdeeds
Thinking, choices
Idiosyncrasies and idiocies
Of everyone named Reddy
And as Sartre would have it
Every time I make a choice
I define and confine a Reddy
Or, as he liked to put it,
I determine
The possibilities for humankind.
Know Thyself 