Timely Morsel: Reasonable Men

Written July 1-2, 2025

Reasonable men
make reasonable choices.
They have their
reasons reasoned. To
each other they offer them,
smiling and tense. Not grinning
apes, but reasonable men. I
can see you, they say to each
other, and your reason 
and the reasons that from it
emerge. Playing games with 
paper. Well, it kills people 
sometimes. Often. Daily.
Hourly. Probably every minute,
every second. But if you use it 
right or have certain luck: 
Safety like a jewel in your 
crown, a place to live, some
food, nice times in nice places
that are made nice through
reasonable processes of 
development. So many
developments, things are really
developing. The land is screaming.
When a girl grows
breasts and wider hips, her body
develops. My labia lengthened
and darkened. I was
surprised. No one told me
about that. Surprised also that
they never beheld me as
reasonable. I have the intellect
for it but not the penis or the temper-
ment. In a darkroom, develop
your photograph. Surprised that 
they never beheld me. It’s fine to
do this. It’s good to do this. It’s what
reasonable men do. There’s the sword.
Swing the sword. Oh, says the reasonable
man, I didn’t realize you had a sword. I 
mean, I have a sword too. And for some
reason the other one thinks this is true.
Underneath the bluster, the land screaming.
Sometimes I hear it in birds. In bugs. 
Reasonable men, I want the comforts 
and pleasures you have, and I want
to burn it all in a bucket, money
especially. I want to burn you down.
I am a reasonable woman, 
which is not the same thing,
and I am being unreasonable
now.