'Whitman knew' or gender/sexuality making

'Whitman knew' timothy r gates, 10/20/2010

Whitman knew
the stroke of a
man, as well as a woman.
He knew no decry
of either embrace.
Wilde, across the ocean,
sang his song,
one from the mists of Clock bells,
though leaves in the grass –
this too was his delight.
Men's men, women's women
women's men, men's women –
only the lonely cancel
one by the other.
Girls and boys,
are only
boys and girls,
when playing in the school yard.
'You're gay!'
'You're straight!'
Those afraid of their shadows
line them up,
like picking sides for a ball game,
changing it into a dodge ball suite,
picking off one by one
until the winner is the only
normal one. –
Losers, one and all,
stick together, throw our fists into the air,
there's only one race, one grace, with many faces –
one people.
Time to run in the grass' leaves.