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Disability Awareness Month: 3 poems by Abhishek Anicca


Photo by Annie Spratt

an ode to a diaper


a diaper is a thing of wonder

when everyone is losing control

it helps people to keep their shit together

never asking to be acknowledged

for carrying human dignity on its shoulder


discarded secretly

sanitary napkin's brother

shame's arch enemy

ableism's worst fear

a diaper is a thing of wonder


delirium


a morsel of uncooked rice falls on the ground, without making a sound, it's not water, the floor is not getting wet


grains change the pressure of the room, for each grain that falls, an invisible hand covers my nose, it's difficult to breathe


a mountain grows on the sidewall, a stranger walks through van gogh's backyard, it's probably jesus


i am on top of the mountain, my body dissolves into pieces of grain, so much grain, no one to eat, uncooked rice


i close my eyes, rain falls on my eyelids, then peels it through, the outer layer of an onion, my eyes are flooded


mother, call mother, call for help, call anyone, this is no time to die, the rice is uncooked, the earth is green


let me go home one last time



a foreign feeling


there is no vocabulary of other lands in the pictures that I paint


my passport is lost, unused from years of illness and mistrust


landscapes devour themselves in my imagination of postcards


eating away half baked honeymooners and people who travel to explore


i borrow words from books in order to build culture within me


it melts away each time there is flooding in my small town


there is culture in where I come from, they assure me again


perhaps someone living in a land far away should write about it



Abhishek Anicca is a poet, writer and researcher. He identifies as a person with disability and chronic illness. When not telling personal stories from his life, he writes on gender, politics and culture. Find his work here: https://muckrack.com/abhishek-anicca-1/portfolio


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