cripchick's blog

another shapeshifter living among the digital masses

a power poem

with 6 comments

inspired by my father telling me about my birth: “you were a breached baby. even then you didn’t follow convention”.

surprise!
my mother did not hold me in her womb
knowing this, praying for this
i came out a surprise.
feet before head,
surprise is my power

surprise!
at 16 years old, i fly miles over your expectations
oh, was that your tokenism that i just ran over?
i’m sorry, it’s just that i know folk like you better than i know myself
you’re predictable,
surprise is my power

surprise!
i slither between your institutions, formalities and games
to get what we need
you do not know you’ve been bitten, swallowed, and consumed
until you are sitting in the pit of my stomach
surprise is my power

surprise!
this disabled girl
knows what she wants
and always gets it
holding your intrigue hostage,
surprise is my power

Written by cripchick

April 3rd, 2009 at 6:04 pm

Posted in writing/poetry

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6 Responses to 'a power poem'

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  1. Stacey, this is so cool. And you know what it made me think of as i read it? Remember when we (SPEAK) joked about “super powers unite” etc. (when we were giving our g-chat identities and realized that they sound like super hero[ine] names)… which then makes me think:

    Wouldn’t that make a fantastic anthology or CD or zine? A RWOC SuperHeroine compilation of our “powers”. :)

    Aaminah

    3 Apr 09 at 6:43 PM

  2. love this!

    nadia

    3 Apr 09 at 6:47 PM

  3. Surprise!
    Stacey’s doing APAD :)
    So powerful!

    phyrecracker

    3 Apr 09 at 7:48 PM

  4. Love it. Man its so true, you are a master at getting what you want and being very slippery…but in the good, powerful way.
    When I was born I was about to come out feet first but then flipped right before I came out. Not sure what that says about me- I wanted to be unconventional but then changed my mind at the last minute.

    Ryan

    3 Apr 09 at 8:02 PM

  5. i think i just LOLed at every comment above.

    my first that was AAMINAH! LET’S GET THIS ZINE ONE DONE FIRST! :)

    and then ryan… slippery :)

    xoxo

    cripchick

    3 Apr 09 at 8:13 PM

  6. Well, I think this expresses something more people need to discuss in our community. People ask, what is disability power? Part of the answer is: it’s when WE focus our ability to surprise.

    Amber

    7 Apr 09 at 5:25 PM

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