‘What Is a Man?’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson

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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.

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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.