M.C. Benner Dixon on Creating Persuasive Metaphors ‹ Literary Hub

"I go by a nickname," I would say. I remember looking up my names in baby name directories. Miriam means "rebellious." Christine denotes belief in Christ. I never could embody both at once-finally finding my rebellion, I lost my faith. I have always been a little out of phase with my names. When I married, I added another name-I liked the x-to my collection, as if it were a figurine on the shelf. There they were, my names: glass images lined up in front of me but never mine entirely, never me.

And like glass, they are fragile. A typo at the Social Security office once gave me, briefly, the surname of Benne Dixon, an almost-welcome error, redolent of blessing. I am regularly mislabeled Chrissy, Christy, Kristen, or Kirstie, in endless permutations. Friends forget my first name and, in their guessing, make me Marian or Muriel. I myself chip off pieces of my names and sign my writing and my checks with my initials. I find it hard to get attached to my many, frangible names. But then, they do not seem particularly attached to me, either.