Why do we send our boys out to be men
When we haven’t taught them to be boys first?
Sit still, keep it quiet,
Don’t you cry, don’t you ever cry —
We turn freeze rays on their souls,
Hearts meant to be on fire put through
The enforced sterilization of
That damned blight, testosterone.
Don’t be too threatening, too sudden, too black,
Sorry, “too urban” —
As boys’ suppressed and latent bonding tendencies
Erupt into sports teams for the lucky,
Gangs for the unlucky,
And homicidal sociopathy for the rest –
Boys should be boys, so
That men won’t be –
