At the bottom of the list,
the space said, This is where
you belong. I look at this
for a long time, and I wish to sing.
But my throat is hoarse;
I have never been part of the group.
Everywhere there are facts
to back me up. My wife, for example,
doesn’t play tennis. But we joined
a tennis club, nevertheless. Now,
as then, we eat dinner by ourselves.
Some animals are less
social that others.
I would not like
to dance with a bear.
Ants and bees share
genes with their queen.
What gets me, most of all,
are the glaring differences.
Not the similarities.
I am a materialist. My daughter
devotes herself to good causes,
even to her own detriment.
It is as though each
of us is a separate species.
Just because we look alike,
and can reproduce,
doesn’t make us any closer, doesn’t
make us like each other
any better.
Despite that I open my mouth.
The king of the frogs
is still king, despite impediments.
So what wins for me
is that my hearing is just as bad
as my vocal cords
and I can smile when I imagine
that they are looking at me with approval.