Sept. 24, 2023
Audio
Why is Your Arm Like That?
By Elizabeth Meade
Why is Your Arm Like That?
By Elizabeth Meade
some childhood peers would ask.
They were referring to my left arm,
tucked against my side like a swan’s wing.
Under the weight of their stares,
I felt like an ugly duckling
swimming in a lake of loneliness.
Any reply always felt too awkward,
a clumsy crumb toss that couldn’t
satisfy their curious appetites.
Now, I have grown up
to discover I was never ugly,
that everyone has a beauty
as unique as bird feathers
with their distinct markings.
Now, I have learned to rejoice
in the boldness of my voice,
calling out with gratitude
for the friends I’ve been given
and hearing it returned.
Elizabeth Meade
Elizabeth Meade is a poet and 2022 Zoeglossia Fellow with Cerebral Palsy who lives in Asheville, North Carolina. Born against the odds of survival at 23.5 weeks, she weighed just 1.1 pounds. This miracle inspires her enthusiastic exploration of life, immense gratitude, and compassionate heart. Among other places, her poems have appeared in the anthologies A Body You Talk To: An Anthology of Contemporary Disability and In Between Spaces: An Anthology of Disabled Writers. She is currently working on her first book of poems.
Image description: A smiling woman with light brown skin, short curly black hair, and brown eyes wearing glasses and magenta and gold fan shaped tassel earrings and multi-colored patterned shirt. She is sitting in sunlight in a black power wheelchair with a yellow golf ball as the joystick. In the background are a blurred building and two trees.