There are no B’s in Voltaire.

There are no soft curves

or honeycombs

or yellow stripes

There are no bumps

and crevices

and lumps in Voltaire.

There are points

and reasons

and opinions

and valleys

and slants

but there are no B’s in Voltaire.

There are B’s on paper

B’s in albums

B’s on lips and doubled by family.

But there are no B’s or BB’s or

beers or bitches or beaches

or trices or traces.

There are none of these in Voltaire.

There are no great aunts

or second cousins

or authors with an x

or Much Ado’s

or even Dante’s

There are no longer any B’s in this Voltaire.

B was 4’9” and kicked ass

B was wise.

B was sick.

B sleeps where all past grandma’s sleep.

B was a long e with a ch-sound and i-c-e

B was but not is.

This B is a V.

This V is Voltaire.

There are no B’s in Voltaire.