Ortho-Corporeality

one four syllable word condemns me,
puts me “at risk” for damn near everything
except the kindness of strangers or care 
from those tasked with giving it.
for us who are blasphemous in body
human decency is diminished
to a costly privilege and a puzzle
in which only certain shapes may fit;
and we, whose generous beings cannot 
be constrained by armrest or buckle,
we are duly classed as lepers and are cast 
into the outer darkness, where there will 
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

---

November 2018