“The female
is like
a deformity
of the male.” ~Aristotle
What sleight of manguage
did not morph cow to fe-bull,
nor hen to wo-cock,
nor dam to fe-sire—
favored goose to wo-gander,
preferred doe to fe-buck?
Even a queen is not a wo-king;
no, no fe-drone bee, s’he.
Granted, “boys will be boys”
as girls too easily excuse;
but we only address adult fauna
with distinctives of gender:
Aristotelian tradition begat
misogyn Aquinan “monstrosity”
and, Hebrew, Greek, Latin
word-roots notworthstanding,
Jacobean rigidity violated
Elizabethan verbal fecundity,
breeding one English gender
wholly subservient to t’other.
What has been the consequence
of man-handling our distinctions?
O, beyond wreckening. Presto!
We create as has been spoken.
