I have made the argument before
that the perfect gender neutral term
has been before our eyes all along
if we only squint a little.
You just need to take the negative connotations
away from “it,” decide that there’s nothing wrong with it
(see what I did there?),
and just move on.

Seeing as how we have to make decisions
and work the language to our will
however we do it,
I don’t see why creating words like “ze”
need be part of the picture.
Just repurpose “it.”

The problem all along
has been who would be willing to take the first step.
I thought about it for a minute,
and I decided I wasn’t man enough
to lead the charge
and be an it myself,
which proves the point,
I guess,
of how poor an idea it was
in the first place.

So nothing was before our eyes,
all along?
Well, what’re you doing about it?
Anyway…