Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Micro Mutant Postcard #20  (listen to the poem, read by the author) Speak to me, Billie, and to hell with any generation gaps. We unconventional types must stick together. Lyrics about our Mad Mutant grief reveal that you’re the teacher now. I am so in love with the Mad Crip time coming for me, unlocked… Continue Reading Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Micro Mutant Postcard #129 (listen to the poem, read by the author) Hades, can’t you spare me a canine? I want my own three-headed dog. Cerberus, come. Vixen can’t share her beastly powers in ways that parables might, forcing me to dream of apocryphal animalistic spirits and Mythic Mutant Multiverses instead, that way I sleep… Continue Reading Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Micro Mutant Postcard #173 (listen to the poem, read by the author) Peaceful Crip coexistence might still be a possibility, even if it’s a bit of a stretch. Mr. Sinister has never been the best to debunk those Mad scientist tropes. Aren’t his CRISPR chips just the worst? Even the ableist avocados need to be… Continue Reading Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Micro Mutant Postcard #183 (listen to the poem, read by the author) My Mutant lineage has always been cosmically tainted, Reed. I can’t refute my Mad blood–it proves there is evidence of me. Such Fantastic Foibles never really make any sense. Besides, no matter how rational your argument may seem, the Crip stays in the… Continue Reading Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Micro Mutant Postcard #41 (listen to the poem, read by the author) Expertise is a tasty craving, but I worry I’ve paid the price. I seek the Cyborg, but I’m the ass in the chair, the voice in your brain, the Crip solution, cracking the code. Knowledge isn’t a crown, it’s the fist that smacks… Continue Reading Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Micro Mutant Postcard #130 (listen to the poem, read by the author) There are just too many binary stars in the Universe. Light, dark. Red, blue. Hot, cold. Magneto, Xavier. Gravity and mass allow us ways to peacefully coexist. Gaseous nebulae make my Mad brain whistle weird. I can wish on more than one star,… Continue Reading Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Interview with Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri

Disability Arts, Crip Culture, and Comics  Editor’s Note: This two-part interview was conducted and revised during several collaborative phases, beginning with our using the Zoom platform. (As she notes, Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri’s reference to her “background” was made in the context of our communicating via Zoom.) Ms. Zubal-Ruggieri (aka RZR) and I (the interviewer) utilized a… Continue Reading Interview with Rachael Zubal-Ruggieri

Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Selections from the Micro Mutant Memoir Postcard Project Micro Mutant Memoir Postcard #9 Before streaming, smart phones, and gaming consoles, Columbia House was my frequent sidekick, and drowned in music, my mind could never stay quiet. The bones of birds gave me proof of life, but was I the living dead or the power girl… Continue Reading Rachael A. Zubal-Ruggieri

Volume 17, Issue 2 – Winter 2023-2024

Editor’s Note / Content Warning: Subjects referenced include racism, war, oppression, Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism, disablement, murder, death, loss, grief, and mourning. Welcome to the Winter 2023-2024 issue of Wordgathering. This issue is manifesting much later than I and others had planned originally. Thank you for your patience. Recently endured personal losses and illness, grief anniversaries, an… Continue Reading Volume 17, Issue 2 – Winter 2023-2024

Poetry – Summer 2023

Poetry in this issue: Karen “KC” Christie, POETRY; HOPE; GRIEF Yariel Luna, Brutus Makena Metz, The MRI Machine is Like a Toaster Nicholas S. Racheotes, Canes; Subzero Angel Rosen, My Therapist Begs Me to Consider the Difference Between Collecting and Hoarding; In Wellness; We Need to Have a Talk Sayantani Roy, Uprooted; Tryst Jess Silfa,… Continue Reading Poetry – Summer 2023