Ungendered third person singular pronoun / The Shimmy of Shadrack


When will the English language adapt? When will it adapt and create an ungendered third person singular pronoun? I lie awake nights thinking. He lies awake night thinking. Someone was in my bed. They couldn't sleep. He/she tossed and turned. Her mouth longed for an ungendered third person singular pronoun. Someone slept until he was refreshed. We changed the language and then had breakfast, each of us with her preferred choice of grapefruit.



THE SHIMMY OF SHADRACK

1.

man was in my office crying
didn’t understand irony
I worried

about mucus
I told myself
keep typing

eventually I gave him a tissue
thank you, he said
keep typing

the shimmy of Shadrack is
the shelf of my broiling gate squeezer
he said

but he wept with such fury
I might not have understood
one day all this will be over

an appropriate metaphor will sail
as we all wish it to sail
and even this man will be joyful

2.

each man is a great tweezer
broiling on a shelf

Shadrack you shimmy
when others are girt with grief

I look at a squirrel
it looks back at me

are we really so different?
he with cute nose

me with nostrils
worn with flair

do animals cry?
Internet says

animals do not cry
as humans do

but produce tears
necessary for

healthy eyes
(follow the link)

the salt creates
osmotic balance

why don’t you cry, animals?
what is the metaphor?

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