Long Poems About Disability
#disability
the net and hordes
you are new to me no matter the length of stay
come forth from the darkness and announce who you are
there is a familiararity...a pattern I cannot name
you leave and erase and come back again
your depths reaches out to me
you think I am to judge?
simply put I was born different
struggling with terribly crippling anxiety
alone and heavily medicated
torurtuous lot I've fallen in with
isn't it enough I march?
picking myself up
when you fail to see
what me in my...
come forth from the darkness and announce who you are
there is a familiararity...a pattern I cannot name
you leave and erase and come back again
your depths reaches out to me
you think I am to judge?
simply put I was born different
struggling with terribly crippling anxiety
alone and heavily medicated
torurtuous lot I've fallen in with
isn't it enough I march?
picking myself up
when you fail to see
what me in my...
#anger
#disability
#frustration
99 reads
3 Comments
DARK DESERT HIGH NOON (around 1988-(?); in my tiny garage apartment; Leucadia, California)
how many more tiny rooms
must i move to and live in
before i can move and live no more
how many more small rooms
boxes
and cramped dusty spaces
await to further contain me ahead
like these bits of residual dust from my past
still trapped inside all these cardboard moving boxes stacked up unopened in a tight corner behind me which hold so many scattered good memories artifacts broken kept pieces ...
must i move to and live in
before i can move and live no more
how many more small rooms
boxes
and cramped dusty spaces
await to further contain me ahead
like these bits of residual dust from my past
still trapped inside all these cardboard moving boxes stacked up unopened in a tight corner behind me which hold so many scattered good memories artifacts broken kept pieces ...
#anxiety
#disability
#illness
#insomnia
#PTSD
133 reads
0 Comments
Baby Mine is still the saddest song in Dumbo
when I was a kid,
I had a rock tumbler
I’d pack it with beach stones
listening to the thing whir and crunch
for a month until I excitedly
unscrewed the cap
sieving off the thick granite slurry
to reveal my polished agates.
I kinda feel like my spine makes
the same noise these days
every morning it cracks
like a mother fucking glow stick
that refuses to actually glow
every morning I sit in the shower
washing off sweat and sleep ...
I had a rock tumbler
I’d pack it with beach stones
listening to the thing whir and crunch
for a month until I excitedly
unscrewed the cap
sieving off the thick granite slurry
to reveal my polished agates.
I kinda feel like my spine makes
the same noise these days
every morning it cracks
like a mother fucking glow stick
that refuses to actually glow
every morning I sit in the shower
washing off sweat and sleep ...
#LifeStruggles
#motherhood
#nature
#suffering
#disability
163 reads
1 Comment
EXCEPT FOR THIS SONG THE CRICKETS SING (Jamaica Beach beach house, 10-6-1991; 1st poem I wrote after moving back to TX)
well here i am
returned again
back to the state
i was born in
back home
on my very first night
here in my
tiny little
funky studio apartment
directly beneath my brother s
beach house
which will hopefully only be
my temporary
though at this point
even that remains
profoundly uncertain
to either see or say
present new island abode
after moving back here
to the far west end
of historic galveston island
texas
after living the last ten years
of my life
way out in beautiful ...
returned again
back to the state
i was born in
back home
on my very first night
here in my
tiny little
funky studio apartment
directly beneath my brother s
beach house
which will hopefully only be
my temporary
though at this point
even that remains
profoundly uncertain
to either see or say
present new island abode
after moving back here
to the far west end
of historic galveston island
texas
after living the last ten years
of my life
way out in beautiful ...
#death
#disability
#illness
#LifeCycle
#SelfReflection
96 reads
0 Comments
Debilitated
I've been disabled for a long time now. Since I was 23 years old. The social security people knew something was wrong when I was going to the psych ward multiple times in a row all due to losing a guy who wasn't worth a damn.
The doctor at the hospital diagnosed me with schizoaffective disorder in 2016 and about 2 or 3 other things. I was finally being able to put a name to my issues although at the time, I didn't really know what it all meant. I just know I felt like a cause no longer worth fighting for.
Even before I became disabled, jobs never came easily to...
The doctor at the hospital diagnosed me with schizoaffective disorder in 2016 and about 2 or 3 other things. I was finally being able to put a name to my issues although at the time, I didn't really know what it all meant. I just know I felt like a cause no longer worth fighting for.
Even before I became disabled, jobs never came easily to...
#disability
143 reads
1 Comment
On jackpots, and staying lucky
Years ago
they used to hide fivers
wrapped up in cellophane
in bags of Walker’s crisps
I remember
winning the game one time
opening that foil bag
and finding money in there
nestled awkwardly amongst
the salt and vinegar
how it felt like scoring the lottery
despite barely being enough
to buy anything at all.
I didn’t even take the cash out
of its plastic overcoat for a month. ...
they used to hide fivers
wrapped up in cellophane
in bags of Walker’s crisps
I remember
winning the game one time
opening that foil bag
and finding money in there
nestled awkwardly amongst
the salt and vinegar
how it felt like scoring the lottery
despite barely being enough
to buy anything at all.
I didn’t even take the cash out
of its plastic overcoat for a month. ...
#disability
#StreamOfConsciousness
#vulnerability
220 reads
4 Comments
FALLING EVER FURTHER MORE DEEPLY AWAY (12-13-1995, 3:36a.m., Galveston Island, Texas)
i stay up all night at times
perhaps to steal back time
that i feel is being stolen away from me
i stay up in my head
keeping watch from my inner battlements
looking for the shadow of death
breathlessly lurking all about me here
across and throughout each long night
concealed in invisible layers of so much
mysterious deadly craftiness
stealthily stealing ever closer to me
all the time day and night
it knows i watch in wait for it
as even here now
i listen for the clacking ...
perhaps to steal back time
that i feel is being stolen away from me
i stay up in my head
keeping watch from my inner battlements
looking for the shadow of death
breathlessly lurking all about me here
across and throughout each long night
concealed in invisible layers of so much
mysterious deadly craftiness
stealthily stealing ever closer to me
all the time day and night
it knows i watch in wait for it
as even here now
i listen for the clacking ...
#anxiety
#insomnia
#illness
#PTSD
#disability
195 reads
0 Comments
TIME FLIES AS DO I (11-9-1995; Galveston Island, Texas)
it seems
the later i stay up
each night
the faster time
flys by
insomnia slings me
again and again
centrifugally
like a nocturnal throw of the dice
through a lopsided
elliptical orbit
increasingly further
around and beyond
all common sense and logic
beyond sleep s central
restorative processing experience
into the alchemical digestive enzymes
of tomorrow morning s
now fast approaching
first light
as i sail through these dark slippery...
the later i stay up
each night
the faster time
flys by
insomnia slings me
again and again
centrifugally
like a nocturnal throw of the dice
through a lopsided
elliptical orbit
increasingly further
around and beyond
all common sense and logic
beyond sleep s central
restorative processing experience
into the alchemical digestive enzymes
of tomorrow morning s
now fast approaching
first light
as i sail through these dark slippery...
#spiritual
#insomnia
#healing
#disability
#cancer
160 reads
0 Comments
Tell It To The Bees
When I was eight, a bee stung my face.
Tangled itself in my hair
saw me as an enemy
and shot hot venom into my skin.
My Mother ran to her screaming kid
as a moment of pure panic erupted
on Sunday’s lawn,
but the damage was done
my head throbbing, numb
where a bruise turned a vivid shade
of violet, as bold as my new fear
of small latching insects.
Fast forward thirty years
and I...
Tangled itself in my hair
saw me as an enemy
and shot hot venom into my skin.
My Mother ran to her screaming kid
as a moment of pure panic erupted
on Sunday’s lawn,
but the damage was done
my head throbbing, numb
where a bruise turned a vivid shade
of violet, as bold as my new fear
of small latching insects.
Fast forward thirty years
and I...
#illness
#bees
#disability
#StreamOfConsciousness
#fear
272 reads
17 Comments
HALFWAY THERE (III) (2nd longer revision of original poem; 1-29-1997, East jetty of Flagship Hotel Pier, Galveston, TX)
i took a trolly
down to the beach
at the end of it s line
walked out to
the end of a jetty
looked out over
this vast gulf of mexicos
seemingly endless horizon
and longingly
thought to myself
with a heavy inner sigh
of momentary hopeful relief
from what little s now left of me
here at this point
of my life s present
long challenging
ongoing...
down to the beach
at the end of it s line
walked out to
the end of a jetty
looked out over
this vast gulf of mexicos
seemingly endless horizon
and longingly
thought to myself
with a heavy inner sigh
of momentary hopeful relief
from what little s now left of me
here at this point
of my life s present
long challenging
ongoing...
#anxiety
#depression
#illness
#MentalHealth
#disability
145 reads
0 Comments
The Ballad Of No-Man Pam
Let me start by saying
I liked her.
It was as simple as that.
There were billions of people in the world,
and I liked maybe five,
but she was one—
complex and undignified,
farted with meaning in her beat-up car,
as the fog rolled in
and you were never entirely sure
where menthol vape met air biscuit.
We swam once a week together,
poured ourselves into awkward Lycra
and willed each other towards water.
Shy of babysitters, her...
I liked her.
It was as simple as that.
There were billions of people in the world,
and I liked maybe five,
but she was one—
complex and undignified,
farted with meaning in her beat-up car,
as the fog rolled in
and you were never entirely sure
where menthol vape met air biscuit.
We swam once a week together,
poured ourselves into awkward Lycra
and willed each other towards water.
Shy of babysitters, her...
#motherhood
#friendship
#water
#disability
#Autism
389 reads
8 Comments
A Crippled Depressive Left To Fester In Solitude
A Crippled Depressive Left to Fester In Solitude
The Mind Grows ripe
All of it goes in one ear and out the other
After all
There is nothing more interesting in passing the time
Than the notion itself
Especially when it's pace slows
And it's presence becomes all too noticeable
An uncanny burden is the mind which counts it's heart
As if it were an old clock
Desperate to shut it up
Irritant like the buzzing of a fly
Now is the time to drown out the world ...
The Mind Grows ripe
All of it goes in one ear and out the other
After all
There is nothing more interesting in passing the time
Than the notion itself
Especially when it's pace slows
And it's presence becomes all too noticeable
An uncanny burden is the mind which counts it's heart
As if it were an old clock
Desperate to shut it up
Irritant like the buzzing of a fly
Now is the time to drown out the world ...
#depression
#loneliness
#MentalHealth
#freedom
#disability
234 reads
1 Comment
DU Poetry : Long Poems About Disability