We no longer masturbate
in Ontario.
That part of our sex-ed
flew out the window.
Let them touch themselves
in Halifax, Montreal, Winnipeg.
Even in Whitehorse
– what else is there to do
on long wintry nights?
Just not in Toronto,
Kingston,
Sudbury.
Here we fast-track our boys
to real manhood.
“Me Tarzan, you Jane”
more proper
than seeking consent.
And we teach healthy relationships,
ones that exclude
man to man,
woman to woman,
or anything LGBTQ.
That part crossed out too.
In Ontario
we remember our past.
In fact, we’re bringing it back
to the days before Google, Twitter, Snapchat,
with a 20-year old curriculum and a rotary phone,
trusting our new Leader
to take us down the path
where not knowing is knowledge,
division is unity,
news is fake,
and darkness and ignorance
trump.
(Editor’s note: poet Shai Ben-Shalom, an Israeli-born biologist, examines current events in the Blacklock’s tradition each and every Sunday)
