Gender Neutral
By Jane Muschenetz
To Skyler and the Diversionary Theatre, who stand proud and help all of us stand together.
They’re studying the effects of gendering on language
and cultural norms —
how the moon is feminine in Spanish and Russian,
but masculine in German
how this alters
our perception of its qualifications —
whether we believe it to be
beautiful, changeable (f) or
stoic, abrupt (m) —
over 1000 Google links discuss in length
how the moon is the moon.
Some promote doing away with sex, but I —
having learned gender from my Mother Tongue
and feeling its lack like a missing limb when I try bending English —
am fascinated, mouth hungry
to embrace each understanding of our world —
uncomfortable and broken as it is.
Learning to speak again and again,
there is something revealing
about seeing the moon
through every lexiconic, scientific, and artistic notion —
and still not having enough
words to fill the sky.
Emerging writer and fully grown MIT nerd, Jane (Yevgenia!) Muschenetz (Veitzman!) came to the US as a Jewish refugee from Ukraine at 10 years of age. She is now mother to two very American kids. Identity and cultural displacement strongly influence her writing. Creator of PalmFrondZoo.com, Jane’s work also appears or is forthcoming in Mom Egg Review, The San Diego Poetry Annual, and The Detour-Ahead Exhibit.
Photo by Debbie Hall.
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