They crossed their arms and leaned back in the chair.
Oh, you don’t like the usage of THEY? The plurality of this stymies you
By throwing down a new concept? Once I would have tried to explain.
Now I realize that because of living among you (singular),
You (singular), you (singular), you (singular), and all the other damn yous,
I AM not one, but many:
I who have always known and said, “I am here!”;
She who others insist be “girled; ladyed; womaned; ma’amed”;
He who some did occasionally call out, often to tell him to leave;
It who got teased, bullied, beaten, and bloodied.
These all live here within me, a forced communal being.
No more apologies. I’m tired of being patient and understanding.
THEY/THEIR/THEM.
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