Alien

To grow up in a society
that regulates the bodily functions,
so that people can’t behold
their physical selves without shame.
How oppressive would that be!

How lucky Dewey is
to be outside of governance!
But Dewey is unhouseled.
When they die, they will have no funeral,
no gravestone.

There’s a word in sociology
for people like Dewey—alien.
Dewey doesn’t belong to a church,
and has no stake in any
rational humanist viewpoint.

Does Dewey lack confidence
in a moral system?
Seems simple. Don’t hurt others.
Try to work for the common good.
But if by “common good”

you mean what’s good for humans only,
it seems immoral to Dewey.
Only what’s good for all life
can be good—humanity
just a tiny part.

Dewey fully believes
that the system that keeps
them fed and clothed and provides
health care and all is based
on an evil that is destroying the world.

In the meantime, Dewey

can have a pleasant morning
scantily clad on the back porch,
feeling the breeze on their limbs,
writing in their notebook.