Wednesday, April 16, 2014

X-Why Axis

Researchers have discovered

an "interacting protein"

on the surfaces
of both sperm and egg

that helps the two
recognize each other
and join.

This protein has
been nicknamed "Izumo"
after a Japanese marriage shrine.

Izumo pairs with "Juno"
named after the Roman
goddess of fertility

(and who later
reincarnated herself

inside of Ellen Page's character's uterus
when she hooked up

with lovable athletic
nerd Paulie Bleeker).

Since the first meeting
of sperm and egg
is the progenitor of
our beloved homo sapiens

(well at least after
the original Big Bang)

and therefore
that of our beauty and cruelty
and mundanity and weirdness

should we also mourn those
who never got to live
in the first place

never even long enough
to be miscarried
or stillborn

whose particular
combination of cells
never formed

for those reasons
which are split into dozens

of college sociology
and history classes?

It sometimes seems easier
than working with
the people we've got

including ourselves.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.