Thursday, January 19, 2023

A Cyborg Deconstructs Her Body (a Poem)

I watch myself at a slow remove/the way liquid is a mirror/Striptease until I tingle/the way time is liquid/I scream as skin comes undone/metal zippers reflect me/Caught in teeth of coal/bone char mars the view/My joints click and blood pools/I stare at my rosacea face/in tints of rose-colored glasses/time mimics my gear-heavy joints/Dripping seconds, cogs, and plasma
This poem was first published in Nebo (2020) when they had a call for speculative work. Many disabled people are cyborgs, but the term is still foreign to most who hear it applied that way. I wanted to attempt a poem that could be taken in the realm of sci-fi as well as in the realm of Crip... but I don't think I accomplished it.

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