This selection, chosen by guest editor Alexis Ivy, is from Power Point by Jane Muschenetz (Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, 2024).
GENDER NEUTRAL
They’re studying the effects of gendering on language19
and cultural norms,
how the moon (luna) is feminine in Spanish and Russian
but masculine in German (Mond)
how this alters
our perception of its qualifications—
whether we believe it to be
beautiful, changeable (f) or
stoic, abrupt (m)—
over 1000 Google links discuss at length
The moon is the moon.
Some promote doing away with sex, but I
(having learned gender from my Mother Tongue
and feeling its lack like a missing limb when I try bending English)
am fascinated, mouth-hungry
to embrace each understanding of our world,
uncomfortable and broken as it is
learning to speak again and again.
There is something revealing about seeing the moon
through every lexiconic, scientific, and artistic notion
and still not having enough
words to fill the sky
19. S. Briggs, “Do gender fair languages affect gender equality? Here's the research,” Berlitz, July 2022, https://www.berlitz.com/blog/does-language-affectgender-equality
Jane Muschenetz Recognized in 2023 by San Diego County for excellence in poetry performance, Jane has appeared on KPBS Midday Edition and in numerous publications. Her debut chapbook, All the Bad Girls Wear Russian Accents (Kelsay Books, 2023), won the 2024 California Press Women Communications Prize in Creative Verse and the 2024 San Diego Writers Festival Short Poetry Collection of the Year. An emerging writer and artist, Jane’s additional honors include multiple Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominations and The Good Life Review Honeybee Poetry Prize (2022). Connect with Jane and more of her work at www.PalmFrondZoo.com
Alexis Ivy is a 2018 recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in Poetry. She is the author of Romance with Small-Time Crooks (BlazeVOX [books], 2013), and Taking the Homeless Census (Saturnalia Books, 2020) which won the 2018 Saturnalia Editors Prize. She is co-editor of Essential Voices: A COVID-19 Anthology (West Virginia University Press, 2023). A recent resident of the Sundress Academy for the Arts, she lives in her hometown Boston, working as an advocate for the homeless, and teaching in the PoemWorks community.
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