Difference - Sept 18 2025

 

Difference

Sept 18 2025

My backwards days

of sleeping through the light,

then coming alive 

in darkness.

As if keeping my distance 

from a tireless sun, 

circling the planet

sheltered by its shadow

the earth kept between.

So, am I lazy

anti-social

or hopelessly bohemian?

A louche poet  . . .

A self-proclaimed philosopher

expounding his theories to empty streets  . . .

Or a bearded beatnik,

bee-bopping bongos 

in a smoke-filled club?

Or, as usual for me, is this just one more way

I’m at odds,

different

contrarian

stubbornly off.

Diametric

and in the dark.

But I’m not by choice.

It’s the accident of birth,

what determines us all.

Because we’re all diverse

even if some happen to be more,

a diversity 

that’s the hallmark of all life on earth

  — the engine of evolution,

the key to resiliency.

And the reason 

our species has flourished.

 

Yes, I’m extremely nocturnal.

But really, the poem is about the strength conferred by biodiversity:  when the environment changes, evolution has all these options it can choose from that have been waiting there all along. Surely one will fit! Diversity creates resiliency.

The concept also applies to our current political moment, when the right wing is suspicious of difference, seeks cultural and ethnic homogeneity, and opposes immigration. Or at least the “wrong kind” of immigration! We need to celebrate diversity, approach it with openness and curiosity. 

And the poem also is personal. Because early risers are regarded as virtuous, productive, and ambitious. While late risers like me are lazy and likely up to no good: just what are they doing so late at night, under cover of darkness? Hey, we’re all different; learn and let live!