.

What Is a Man?

“Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor
with child?” —Jeremiah 30: 6

The prophet’s statement clearly is sarcastic;
That men cannot birth children is well-known.
But now we’re told we may not look askance
At anyone who claims he can (with drastic
Surgeries, or senseless change of pron-
ouns) overthrow the laws of common sense

And nature. Such a lucrative transaction
For surgeons, yields a permanently tragic
Consequence to those who’ve been deceived
Regarding actual damage the subtraction
Of manhood will impose. This new barbaric
Practice from the start was ill-conceived

By villains who were pregnant with sadistic
Plans to enrich themselves, in bold defiance
Of the physician’s oath—the Hippocratic
Vow to Do No Harm. With egotistic
Aplomb, miscarrying the name of Science,
They mock all disapproval as fanatic.

In sinister disguise of sympathetic
Specialists, their labor is delusion:
Experimenting in reality-
denial (which an honorable medic
Would never do), engendering confusion,
Committing crimes against humanity.

Beware of phony doctors—Frankensteins
Who perpetrate atrocities, whose trans-
formations prove they are uncivilized
Criminals. With damaging designs,
They desecrate the dignity of man’s
Image, and dissect dehumanized

Humanity. If insanity defines
Identity, results are pathologic,
Destroying men and their societies.
When language is abused, the world declines;
When science fails to maintain biologic
Truth, the world accepts absurdities.

Predictably, a culture’s quick demise
Impends when words, and people, are defined
By lethal lies and transient fantasies.
When savage surgeons deviously devise
Abuse; when ill-used grammar undermines
Communication’s clear vocabularies;

When cold-hearted technology aligns
With human avarice, the diagnosis
Can easily be read between the lines:
A devastating cultural necrosis.

.

.

Cynthia Erlandson is a poet and fitness professional living in Michigan.  Her third collection of poems, Foundations of the Cross and Other Bible Stories, was released in July, 2024 by Wipf and Stock Publishers.  Her other collections are These Holy Mysteries and Notes on Time.  Her poems have also appeared in First Things, Modern Age, The North American Anglican, The Orchards Poetry Review, The Book of Common Praise hymnal, The Catholic Poetry Room, and elsewhere.

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15 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Cynthia, these are some great words and great lines. You defined the atrocities perfectly as crimes. Such cultures cannot continue on without consequences. You continue to impress me with your poetic skills and creative mind. Thank you.

    Reply
    • Cynthia L Erlandson

      Thank you so much, Roy. I’m glad you find the poem meaningful and creative.

      Reply
  2. Joseph S. Salemi

    Cynthia makes an important point: the horrors perpetrated in laboratories and hospitals only happen AFTER the debasement and muddying of language prepares the ground. This is why the political left is fixated on linguistic usage and terminology, as Orwell pointed out in his dystopian novel “1984”.

    Reply
    • Cynthia L Erlandson

      Thank you, Joseph. Yes — I don’t recall exactly when I started noticing language-abuse, but it may have been with the ridiculous phrase “pro-choice” to mean a choice about only one thing, and that a cruel one. Now, I seriously doubt whether anyone in the “trans community” (“community” is another abused word) could even define the prefix “trans”. I’m so grateful that this Society is here to be part of the battle to retrieve the beauty and meaning of our language.

      Reply
  4. Warren Bonham

    I must have read that Jeremiah passage several times, but it never really registered before. That’s a perfect introduction for your fantastic poem. Frankenstein was given free rein, but it feels like the pendulum is moving slowly in the right direction.

    Reply
    • Cynthia L Erlandson

      Thanks, Warren; indeed, my eyes popped when I ran across the Jeremiah verse this time, as it seemed to have taken on a surprising new meaning! I hope you’re right that the pendulum is moving back in the right direction.

      Reply
  5. Russel Winick

    Cynthia – You’ve done an excellent job of finding words to match the horrors of the practice itself.

    Reply
  6. Margaret Coats

    “When language is abused, the world declines.” Within your poem, Cynthia, you do the opposite, by bringing up many words pertinent to the fundamental assertion that a man is male. “Conceived,” “pregnant,” “miscarrying,” “engendering,” could all have a vague and more abstract meaning, but here you choose these in preference to terms without sexual reference. This makes the poem rich in detail on several significant levels–and the more there is to read closely, the better the poem.

    Regarding that Jeremiah quote, the next verse says that when we dare to read a man as giving birth, a time of tribulation has come. Indeed, when abortion is a “choice,” what can escape redefinition leading toward loss of any real meaning!

    Reply
  7. Cynthia L Erlandson

    Thank you so much, Margaret. I’m very grateful that you caught those words which were intended to extend the birth-giving metaphor; and I’m so glad that you sensed other levels of meaning in them. Maybe that’s why I love extended metaphors; there’s a magic in them that evokes many dimensions of meaning. And I think you have had a deep insight into the context of the Jeremiah quote that hadn’t occurred to me before, but is most certainly true.

    Reply
  8. Paul A. Freeman

    That pronoun thing really gets me miffed, especially when it’s needed on a government form or a writing competition entry form.

    Language abuse is also on the rise. Every time I search my mind for the term ‘flight attendant’, ‘stewardess’ is on the tip of my tongue. And now everyone’s an ‘actor’. ‘Actress’ can sometimes get you in hot water.

    Although the above are just bit ridiculous, as mentioned above, language abuse is becoming Orwellian. Putin’s invasion of / war against Ukraine is painted as ‘a special military operation’, much as the civil war in Northern Ireland was the euphemistic ‘Troubles’, and the war between the UK and Argentina was the Falklands ‘Conflict’. Yesterday, one of the Western journalists working for RT (Russian Television) kept referring to the annexation (another polite word for ‘invasion’) of Crimea with the verb ‘retain’. So instead of invading Crimea, Russia ‘retained’ Crimea, i.e. kept hold of something that had always belonged to it.

    Unfortunately, such language abuse is occurring in more day to day situations. Insurrectionists are suddenly ‘political prisoners’, and then ‘hostages’. I also recall an African-American rapper in a Swedish jail being freed after a ‘hostage negotiation’ team was dispensed to his aid. And then there are the attempts to rename the Gulf of Mexico, largely by employing ‘doublethink’ (an Orwellian concept that is being used ever more widely these days), for the sole purpose of self-aggrandisement, with the Associated Press being banned from White House Press conferences and the lady Press Officer screeching about AP printing ‘Lies, lies!’ for daring to call the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico.

    I’ve just finished a dystopian novel in which language abuse is a major feature. Sound bites aimed at inciting hatred and violence are ‘mind snatches’, while civil wars are downgraded in history books to ‘civil disturbances’.

    Sorry, I’ve gone on a bit, Cynthia. That ‘retain’ thing, from a journalist who was fairly objective a year ago but is now a mouthpiece apologist, really got to me.

    Thanks for the read.

    Reply
  9. Susan Jarvis Bryant

    Cynthia, you make hard-hitting and relevant points in admirably crafted poetry that gets the evil machinations of those making money at our children’s expense across excellently.

    Where the warping of language is concerned, there is nothing more abusive in this world than the personal pronoun push that leads to innocent children being butchered. Cynthia, I cannot thank you enough for your poetry and your bravery.

    Reply
  10. C.B. Anderson

    Why, Cynthia, do you not tell us how you really feel about this subject. I’m kidding, of course, and I had a further thought: Would it not be just for surgeons who perform such mutilations to be required to undergo a similar procedure? Poetic justice, at least. Physician, heal thyself! But retain a lawyer first.

    Reply

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