overspecified

Sam Coleridge proposed that we use "it"
because a pronoun need not point to sex
most social functions don't engage one's kit
or secondary hormonal effects
consensus coalesces around "they"
for singular and plural, all the same
for hetero, or trans, or bi, or gay
what's private need determine not one's name
such metadata carelessly attach
to pronouns where it has no relevance
were they ungendered and free to mismatch
we'd get on better at no great expense
a thousand pitfalls yawn each time we speak
for want of the right pronoun that we seek