The cigarette hurt my throat, but I finished it quick to impress Grant. We lean against the pigeon-poo-stained railing under the bridge next to the river, watching the pool we made with our spit. A disgusting moth repeatedly flew into the flickering light that lit up the bridge we were standing beneath. The sound of…
Tag: health
“leukemia,” “die doktor,” “process & finale”
leukemia blood ate from his body wrapped in radiation. his tongue embrace the nectar that his mouth spills out. a hummingbird hovers above his lips—still nothing new. still the body caves onto itself. still there are little whispers to find the sick dying, & sick are dying. worms detect his eyes; sparrows discover the worms….
Our Father
CW: Medical stuff. Grief: a universal language, and yet when spoken, nobody speaks back. A silence that echoes, and who to hear if one is without faith? Aimless prayers and purple knees, the concrete floor is cold, the silence is colder. Nobody is listening, but I’m not ready to stand up just yet. Odours of…
Disability Wrath Month
July is Disability Pride Month. And I could write some empowering piece about how I make my life work even though fibromyalgia and I’ve got all these things that don’t work in the ways bodies and brains typically do and rah rah rah. I know how to write about Pride. I’ve done plenty of it,…
Coming out versus Letting In
It’s the end of Pride Month. Usually I’m overflowing with words about queer topics, especially in June. I had a year of queer rage in 2022. And 2023 has me filled with even more rage. And yet this month, when I should have been able to say something I’ve had trouble saying anything. Every time I…
Rape Reporting Requirements are Dangerous
“Do you see that kitten chasing so prettily her own tail? If you could look with her eyes you might see her surrounded with hundreds of figures performing complex dramas, with tragic and comic issues, long conversations, many characters, many ups and downs of fate…” -Ralph Waldo Emerson Big Life Events have a Kind of…
Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Reaching Critical Mass
Another Year of Queer Rage, Thanks to Anti-LGBTQ Legislation Recently, I was chatting on Facebook with someone, and I called 2022 as my “year of queer rage.” Not surprising when 2022 was an epic year for anti-lgbtq legislation with 315 bills filed attacking the queer community. Thankfully, ninety one percent of these bills failed to…
Shooting at Michigan State University
I’m still dealing with lingering effects of COVID right now. Mostly fatigue and pain, with more frequent headaches as a bonus. So shortly after dinner last Monday, I dozed off for a bit, and when I woke up I began scrolling through Facebook and was shocked to see a post telling me that a friend…
Spoonie Life and Sporkie Workarounds
What is Spoon Theory? What is a Spoonie? I’ve been candid about my neuro-atypicality and mental health, and about some of the details about life with chronic illness and chronic pain. Adam’s been candid about his own challenges with mental health and neuro-atypicality, too. We rely on the Spoon Theory a lot, checking with each…
Pain and Palliative Care
COVID: Another Source of Pain… and Anxiety So after nearly 36 months of working so hard to avoid COVID, I’ve got the spicy cough. I’m not actually coughing too much, but I’m congested, I’ve got itchy eyes, I’m aching everywhere and I’m exhausted. Those last two things aren’t all that unusual. Aches and exhaustion are…