Dialogue VI
Returning after a fall
broken ankle cut skin curling
arms peeling
collected pieces of poetry
torn and cut into tiny shapes
a landscape half remembered
a city hesitant
familiar and incomplete
write down medications and dose
keep good records
return echoes
in ghostly corners
muscle memory takes over
play brain games
spell backwards while skipping
“welcome to the jungle we’ve got fun and games”
knowing is temporary
subject to revision
bricks, wood, concrete
tar seal
certainty is rare
all we can know is one stone
to step from
a tiny ripple
in a sea of unknowing
“be sure to wear some flowers in your hair”
I am a place in half-light
small figures gathering
along my inner paths
veins streaked white
across my landscape
trying to hold together
I am a room of echoes
dissolving textures
pieces aligning versions of myself
confronting normative ideas
slaying ableism
“if I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere”
start at belonging
to arrive at wellbeing
this is not the place
but I exist
my walls flickering
moonlight on water
trees thickening shadows
I am a silhouette against the sky
the path forming in the dark
tomorrow
“our city is the bomb if your city makin’ pay
throw up a finger if you feel the same way”
illness changes us
we live in this world
and others
Start at Belonging
Poems by Tara Coleman & Illustrations by Sam McLaughlan