Notice

This is an archived page from the original website for Wordgathering: A Journal of Disability Poetry and Literature. It appears solely in its original formatting. The accompanying rights and privileges pertaining to published content between March 2007 and September 2019 (Volume 1, Issue 1 through Volume 13, Issue 3) apply to this page. For current Wordgathering content, guidelines, rights and privileges, and further information, please visit the Wordgathering site hosted by Syracuse University.

Diane Scott Lewis

LIMBS AND OTHER PINGS

My legs refuse to interpret commands
They wobble and weave, a dance on sand
In memory I run, skip and jump
In reality I'm weak, numb and slump
My reach, it often doesn't connect
A word may fall out incorrect
The spirit staggers to remain the same
To laugh and win this evolving game
Nerve coverings fray and cannot listen
A duel with my own immune system.

Diane Scott Lewis grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, joined the Navy at nineteen and was diagnosed with MS in 1997. She writes book reviews for the Historical Novels Review.