Unbroken
There were times
I imagined you different.
My young mother mind
pictured you—
normal, typical, non-disabled.
I can’t use those words anymore
for their opposites evoke—
lack, absence, tragedy,
and you, my child,
are a celebration of plenty,
a bounty of delight,
a well of fascination.
In fact, you stand against the backdrop
of pedestrian life
in sharp relief
adding color where there is none
I looked up the opposite of disabled‑‑
unaffected, activated, unbroken.
At 29, you appear much younger
and I wonder how typicality
would have changed you.
Plucked eyebrows,
black eyeliner,
a flat iron to tame
your wild dark chocolate curls?
You might have dieted,
finding fault with your shape and size,
and worn heels that hurt your tender feet.
You would not go singing
through the grocery store
happily oblivious to strange looks.
Typical you
may not have sung at all,
thinking a note or two
off-key.
There are many times
I imagine the world
different than it is,
a welcoming place
where compassion and respect
are the norms,
and we all go singing
through the aisles.
I am so pleased to share that Unbroken was published in the January 2023issue of Last Stanza Poetry Journal! Also, in this day and age, many literary journals are available online only. Last Stanza publishes online and in hard copy. I love that this is is one I can hold in my two hands and seat comfortably on my bookshelf next to my other works that appear in print editions!
PS: If you know anyone who might enjoy my writing, I’d love to expand my subscriber list! Please forward freely.
Thank you,
Melinda Coppola
Eloquence as Legacy