When I was growing up,
they taught you very young to tell them right away
if you were a boy or if you were a girl.
And from then on you were sent to live in
two different worlds.
Even before you were born, they ask
this question over and over,
and from in there you can’t imagine what
the problem is. And from then on you’re sent to live in two different worlds.

Girls did crewelwork, boys had shop.
They got to bring home breakfast trays made out of plywood: things you had a use for.
We sewed those pictures with the poked out holes. A picture of a rabbit done in yarn. We all did the same picture of a rabbit, or else you could choose a baby chick, but that was it.

The good part about living in the world of the girl
is it prepares you for absurdity.