of my left shoe, but don’t. Instead, I am ashamed
of the way my entire torso lurches to the right
with each step, my limp pronounced and loud
as a peacock screaming. I once took a video of me
walking up and down my apartment hallway
so you could study my gait, get used to my crooked
bearing. When I lie beside you after an afternoon
of walking together, I hear your heart beating
in rhythm to my hobbled meter and weep
for the loss of all that is upright and even within you.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 23, Issue 6.
Erin Lynn Marsh is a poet living and working in Bemidji, MN. She is the author of Disability Isn’t Sexy (Jules Poetry Playhouse Publications, 2019), which was nominated for a 2019 New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. Her work has appeared in Post Road Magazine, Sugar House Review, Paper Darts, Emrys Journal, wordgathering.com, and the anthology Hers: Poets Speak (while we still can), Vol. 2 (Beatlick Press and Jules’ Poetry Playhouse Publications, 2017), edited by Jules Nyquist. She was a 2019/2020 Region 2 Arts Council Artist Fellow and was previously awarded two Individual Artist Grants. You can find her online at erinlynnmarsh.com.
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