two bits

i am allowed to read stuff written by rabid heterosexuals,
fervent homosexuals, smug bisexuals, preoperative transsexuals.
i am allowed to read stuff written by anarchists, socialists,
republicans, democrats, the apoliticals of the world.
i am allowed to read stuff written by folks who don't really care
about anything, who are just drifting by, miserable, wondering
why they are alive and what to do about it.
i am allowed to read stuff written by drug addicts and alcoholics
and mental patients.
i am allowed to read stuff written by folks who are so
excited and happy and proud to be alive it makes me
wonder how anybody can feel that good.
i am allowed to read stuff written by men who think that
certain 13-yr-old boys are incredibly luscious.
i am allowed to read stuff by people with PhDs and stuff
by people who dropped out of high school.
i am allowed to read stuff that makes me mad and stuff that
makes me glad and stuff that makes me
horny and stuff that makes me depressed.
sometimes i feel sorta bad that i mostly just take it for granted
that i'm allowed to read anything i want.
i know things don't have to work that way.
and in a lot of places they don't.
but, well, right now i just feel like saying that
i'm glad i can read any damn thing that i want
to read, and just let it go at that.  too much mushiness is
allowed, but not really encouraged.

--Carl Miller Daniels (This poem appeared in Chiron Review #63, December 2000. It also appeared in CommonLine E-Journal, November 14, 2009.)