by Nora Jay

“Female astronaut goes to space but can’t escape online sexism by ‘small men’”
—The Guardian

After William Allingham

Up beyond the airspace,
Past the oxygen,
We daren’t go a-posting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, he-folk,
Typing all alone,
Certain that a spaceship
Needs testosterone.

In their parents’ basements,
See them brood, distraught,
On that oxymoron:
“Female astronaut,”
We could post from Pluto
Or Orion’s Den:
Still we’d hear the hate from
Brittle little men.