I’ve been thinking a lot about disability and creativity. Harnessing our energies and letting them into the universe, finding ways to express our experiences. I wanted to share a few poems I’ve found by disabled women.
“Naked, at 45″ by Tracy Koretsky
Like pampas grass, whose blush fades, whose reeds
desiccate and snap, or like the house left to weather,
sinking, soft edges fraying…there is no fresh metaphor
for my body, aging. An ordinary body.
(Read the rest of “Naked, at 45″)
“You Get Proud By Practicing” by Laura Hershey
If you are not proud
for who you are, for what you say, for how you look;
if every time you stop
to think of yourself, you do not see yourself glowing
with golden light; do not, therefore, give up on yourself.
You can
get proud.
(Read the rest of “You Get Proud By Practicing”)
“every morning at 9 am,” by cripchick
i wrap my hand around her
skinny denim thigh
preparing myself for what will
come next
(Read the rest of “every morning at 9 am,”)
Do you have a favourite disabled poet or poem about disability?
I love Jillian Weise. Her collection of poems, “The Amputees Guide to Sex” is pretty much what it sounds like, a discussion of disability (she had a leg amputated when she was 11) relating to her own sexual activity and identity. You can read most of the book on Google Books (http://books.google.com/books?id=gzf5bu6u9xIC).
from the poem “I Want You to Know This”:
He’s afraid to hold my hand because he thinks
it might throw me off balance. Hand-holding
doesn’t throw me off balance.
I wanted you to know this, because maybe you
wondered about people with fake legs; maybe
you wanted to hold their hand but you didn’t
because you thought you might trip.