From Adam, With Love

Look at me

Yes, you, with the hair and the eyes

And 43 other similar things to me

Give me your attention

Please

Are you aware of how much

I want to need to think that

You need my help

Do you know what “mansplaining” is?

When I condescend

Down farther and farther

Past the watermarks left behind

By respect and confidence

Do you,

With your tight clothes

That I made you wear

And the tighter restrictions

Constricting you there

Do you know that I know

That you know

How wrong I am?

Because

Through no fault of your own

I have placed walls on walls

In halls and in winter and spring

And summer and fall

To keep out my own

Insecurities

At the cost of the other gender

How many times have I seen

Him shut her down

And repeat her idea

Louder

Prouder

But without the spark of originality

How many times have I interrupted

Cut you off with something

Sharper than a sword

But still short enough

That most of me is insecure about it

And I don’t know what to say most of the time

Lucky for me

Testosterone does

So I scream and whine

To whoever’s closest to me

Throwing tantrums with the ferocity

Of a full-grown infant

So I apologize for the Y chromosome

And all the problems it has caused

Sincerely,

Adam