There is a lot of stake in labels today

Labels for prices in colorful grocery aisles, tags naming fine wines and distilled beers

Landowners and titles letting it known readily to others; information,

Statuses, preferences, orientations

Slaking a toxic, potent curiosity

Under the impression that one mind reeling in

Its own thoughts, not privy to others is naturally entitled to answers, entertainment

At the expense of another’s time and             privacy

Is one state better than another? Is a Monarch butterfly

more beautiful and deserving than the fuzzy caterpillars in

backyard gardens? Is being a man by definition, sex, and

mind and loving a woman of a similar persuasion, more

romantic and just than any? All? None?

Wrong, sin, and blasphemy, religious louts tout.

Angry mouths swinging open

Reminiscent of the North American                                

trout

Salem Witch trials modernized; abhorrent condemnation and rejection of something different. A denial of the only constant in it all: change

 A pitiful baseline of which

humanity may be compared; afraid, distasteful of the unfamiliar

It’s not natural. Is anything natural? A conglomeration of cells and tissues and thoughts. That’s what it means to be human. To exist. To be living, respiring.

These meaty vessels are passing judgment on the abnormal when

They are piloted by a threadwork of

Nerve endings

Is there a “normal”?

How novel.