Jimmy Burns

TEACHER

Wake in terror to complete lesson plans,
before the curriculum supervisor complains
flat on his back like Michelangelo
gazing on spackle hanging from ceiling
planning interrupted by nurses draping
butcher paper signed from students
who wish to will their healing power
to mend their broken instructor
unable to speak language he taught
or to correct and edit their missives
he can no longer interpret meaning
hope shrouded by what could never be
surrounded by flowers from colleagues
who knew that he is never coming back

* * *

WINTER (2)

Bound to a wheelchair
bundled in warmth of quilts
reflective sunshine
streams through plate glass
false impression of temperature
but frigid on trails of guard dogs
vegetation dead dripping
of melted frost
scribbled inspiration on napkin
experience and paradise lost
life continuing in thought:
"pray for one more summer!"

* * *

DICTION OF DISABILITY

1.
Fragments and run on sentences
ruin of context-synaptic impediment
carry meaning in roll of wheelchair
nouns and verbs lacerate slip of tongue
rote exchange of language dwells
within memory impaled on respite.

2.
Words to describe our experiences:
bundle of button down front shirts
elimination of neck ties from wardrobe
mismatched pairs of obsolete joggers
haul to city goodwill box on wheels
sleep well, sleep tight archaic rust.

3.
Learning to write again without paper-
gulp of fresh air breaks brain freeze
quip dysfunction, broken arcane jargon
lacking complex recitation or punctuation
lunging from dreams to nightmares
clinched left hand grips spastic thoughts:
disability evolves with crippled syntax

Jimmy Burns writes poetry with his right arm from his wheelchair at his rural home at the edge the urban chaos of Houston. He survived a stroke at age 49 in 2005 and retired from teaching English. Burns has published many poems both before and since his stroke. Recent poetry in Backstreet, Clark Street Review, Edgz, Left Behind, Nomad's Choir, Pegasus. Saturday Diner, Sol, Breath & Shadow and Writer's Block .