Tuesday 28 March 2017

Outside Of The Gender Box (March 28, 2017)

"There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 166-7

In your binary world
There are 
No shades
Of gray.

Everything is:

Yin/Yang
On/off
Black/white
Male/female.

Fitting neatly
Into pigeonholes
Of your mental construct.

Rejecting anything
Outside of these parameters
As blasphemous.

And yet
Life teaches us
Otherwise.

Gender is
Fluid-like
Running across
A spectrum.

In how
We express ourselves.

As male 
Female 
Androgynous
Or somewhere
Inbetween.

Regardless
Of our chromosomes
And hormonal chemistry.

As stated
On a lab report.  

Therisa © 2017

Author's note: On Friday, March 24, 2017, I accidently deleted an almost completed version of this poem, before my appointment with my eye specialist, concerning damage done to my eyes, due to Type II diabetes. At this moment, I don't need corrective glasses, but like life, that may change, when I see her, again, in September.

Over the past 3 days, have reconstructed this poem, from memory. Normally, I write my first draft out in long hand, in one of my notebooks, before transferring it, into one of my email accounts, to get a date stamp, for completion. My handwriting is neat, but very small, to the point, one could say, I'm writing, in code, with it. Especially, as the schools aren't teaching today's' children cursive, but focusing, instead, on typing and printing. 

Guess, one day, it should be, the topic of a poem, by me, with a photo, of my handwriting. 

13 comments:

Sumana Roy said...

'And yet
Life teaches us
Otherwise.'...that it does....always...very well put...

Therisa's World said...

Thank you, Sumana. Maybe, one day, humanity will grow up, and realize this.

Susan said...

Amen. And a beautiful poem for fluidity and the poverty of polarities.

Therisa's World said...

Thank you, Susan. Do you think dinosaurs, like President Trump, will ever understand this?

indybev said...

I fear there's no hope for the Trump-et! Evocative poem, Therisa.

Therisa's World said...

One can only dream, Bev, that it may happen, one day. Although, am not holding my breathe, for that day, to happen.

annell4 said...

A beautiful write!!!

Sherry Blue Sky said...

I so love "life teaches us otherwise", and gender flowing across a spectrum - as indeed it does, there being many variations of being human. Thankfully, as it makes life so interesting.

Therisa's World said...

Thank you, Annell, am hoping, with this poem, I can help educate people, about gender, and how it's not a static definition, like some people think.

Rosemary Nissen-Wade said...

Oh, the impersonality of a lab report!

Therisa's World said...

Interesting, you should chose that particular stanza, as many others have, as well. Myself, would have chosen, the following stanza, as I think it encapsulate, what this poem is about. Remember, the Chinese curse, may you live, in interesting times. Could use, a little boredom, here and there.

Therisa's World said...

I know, Rosemary, but that how some people view gender.

Sreeja said...

wisdom....beautiful!

Featured post

Chance Encounter (March 13, 2017)

July 21, 2006. A date Forever etched Into my memory. As if Done by A laser. By mistake And pure chance. I enter...