The Myth of Manhood
We offset masculinity
With bravado and obscenity
Afraid to embrace sensitivity,
We disconnect from our poetry.
We boil in soups of complexity
And stew in our futile brutality
Too fearful to reveal our humanity,
We ignore our peace mentality.
We inflict our core fragilities
Upon weaker ones, for clarity
That we are MEN... a phallically-
Challenged curiosity, with no idea of
How to be.
We shield our insecurities
With braggadocio and hyperbole
Ignore our wounds and maladies
Projecting our faux-vitality.
We erect and flex our sexuality, yet
Disguise our chronic uncertainties
We exaggerate our salaries
As we over-inflate our reality
Refusing to acknowledge our fallacies
We stoop to acts of inhumanity
We masturbate our M-16s
And falsify our legacies...
We’re victims to this harsh disease
Contorting our souls into machines
Terrified that shows of empathy
Might destroy our guise of
Masculinity. Yes, we are
MEN. We stew, we boil in
Soups of complexity, with no idea of
How to simply
be.
One.
copyright © 2010 by L.M. Ross
