Editor’s Note: We offer another poem from the Men of the West Poet Laureate, Ian McLeod. 

The Nonsense of Sense and Antisense

We all learned at an early age

that we are made of DNA.

In a strand of DNA, we find pairings,

and Science tells us that each part is either

“Sense” or “Antisense,” and each balances

the other out, and that is what makes it all work,

While I don’t dispute the existence,

much less the great importance of

deoxyribonucleic acid (I’d be a fool so to do, non?),

I find, as I study Humanity, that the entire

business of balancing Sense and Antisense

is pure nonsense, in the sense that most

people have no horse sense, common sense,

or any other sort of sense at all!

Contrary to what our white-coated friends

(who themselves are senseless) may tell us,

I say we are beings composed mostly of antisense.

How can I, with no credentials say such a thing?

Because, given the folly of humanity,

it’s the only thing that makes any sense at all.